Sky Top Duelists
by Sdrive
Summary: Kai has been kicked out of his apartment and has nowhere else to go when he decides to join a Duel Monsters tournament. The prize? 50,000 dollars along with a few secret cards to be given to the Champion. He and his friends, Sprite, Hajime, Dominid, an
1. A New Group

Sdrive: Ok, here we go, a fic I've wanted to start for a little while now, don't worry, a new chapter of Masters will be appearing shortly. Just gotta finish a few details before it's done. Ok, here we go.

Disclaimer: If I had a dollor for everyone of these I did, I'd be a lot richer than I was.

P.S. If you know the opening theme music of Battle City, it will be easier to see the visions in you mind.

-

Doors open up leading into the Sky Top Duel Arena. The silouette of 5 duelists with the latest Duel Disk system on their arm are in the door way. "You're Move" is echoed throughout the background as each of the duelists duel disks open up and they insert their decks inside.

Scene's of duels flash through the front with the favorite monsters of each of the Sky Top Duelists. A Black Magician, A Red Eyes Black Dragon, a Raging Flame Sprite, a Thousand Eyes Restrict, and a Blue Eyes White Draogn appear in the middle of the Sky Top Arena. A bunch of images flash within seconds as Yugioh, Sky Top Duels, echos in the background.

Images of of the blue haired Kayose, white haired Sarosu, and black haired Lin, fade in and out, all with a devious smile on their face. They summon Dark Necrofear, Machine King, and Revival Jam, as the monsters begin to battle against a Luster Dragon, a Twin Headed Fire Dragon, and a Black Magician Girl.

Image changes over to a brown haired boy with a grey hat on his head and determined green eyes with the Black Magician on his side of the field, and a purple haired girl with blue eyes and a Wing Weaver on her side of the field, facing off against each other as the image spins around them.

Large moving beats sound as the Sorceror of Black Magic appears, his staff in his hand, the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon, preparing it's attack, and a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon roaring loudly pass by as each image appears within a different scene.

"It's time to duel," is echoed out as each duelist raises a card and places it on their Duel Disk.

A boy with brown hair and brown color eyes wearing a black trentch coat and tan, cargo pants stands with his arms crossed as an Image of the Red Eyes Black Dragon is right behind him. A close up shows a determined look on his face.

A girl with red hair, green eyes wearing a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans is in a fighting position in the back of a dark alley way with an image of the Raging Flame Spriteshown behind her. A close up of her face shows an energetic smile on her face.

A boy with black hair and brown eyes, of asian descent, stands wearing a plain white t-shirt with black pants on as he faces off with Lin. A hologram of the Thousand Eyes Restrict is on his side of the field. A close up shows his face without any fear.

A boy with brown hair, wearing a black hoody with a dragon on the front summons a Blue Eyes White Dragon. A close up image shows his face ready to take on anyone.

The boy with brown hair, hidden by his grey hat, green eyes, red jacket and blue jeans stands in front of the others as they look up at the Sky Top Duel Dome raised up in the sky. The Image changes to a see them all on a boat looking towards an island. The Brown Haired boy pulls a card from the Duel Disk and raises it. Black Magician appears on his left, Red Eyes Black Dragon appears on his right. Thousand Eyes Restrict appears on the left above the Black Magician while a Raging Flame Sprite appears on the right above the Red Eyes. A Blue Eyes White Dragon appears right behind him as, "Sky Top Duelists" echos in the back ground.

-

The sun started to shine over the horizon turning the sky a brilliant red as sunlight slowly crept across the city of Domino. A brown haired boy was woken from his sleep as the light came in through his window. He slowly sat up rubbing his eyes with his hand. With no enthusiasm at all, he went into the bathroom for no other purpose than nature called. As he considered whether or not he should go back to bed or actually get up to go to school he began to brush his teeth. Once finished his autopilot set in and he walked out of his room and down the hall. He turned right into his small grey kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and sighed. He closed the door when he realized that closing his eyes and then re-opening wouldn't put food in the fridge. "I have to go shopping," he said to himself.

He returned to his room a white little square that could have been either a sleeping quarters, or a prison, he was never quite sure which it was. It had a small wood dressor that had a mirror built into it on the right of his room. He looked at his messy bed, the sheets all over the place from another night of tossing and turning. He considered making the bed, but laziness kicked in and instead looked to the left of his bed at his small nightstand. On top of it was the key to his appartment, 5 dollars with three pennies on top of the money. His Dueling Deck was sitting in between the key and the money, an alarm clock sitting on the right. In back of his deck was a photograph.

He walked towards the photograph and picked it up. In it was a picture of him, his mom was on his left and his step-dad was on his right. They were in a park with the sun off to the right. They were smiling and the boy had his arms around his mom and step-dad's shoulders. He sat down on the bed and just stared at the picture. After about a minute of looking at it he sighed and placed the photo back where it was.

He got up and got dressed into the school uniform and his black shoes. He went to his bed post and took down a seat belt from an old car. He put it around his waist and clipped it. "My ol' home-made belt," he said looking down at it. He picked up his deck and placed it into the Deck Box that he had equipped to the seat belt. He also took off his grey hat and his red jacket that was hanging from the wooden sphere that was on top of the bed post. He placed his hat on his head and put his jacket on. He grabbed the money on the night stand placed it into the pocket of his jacket. He grabbed his key and walked down the hall. He opened his door and shut it behind him. He locked it and then hurridly turned around, trying to get out before Ricardo saw him. He failed.

The man was of spanish decent, he had 5 O'clock shadow, greying hair, wearing a faded brown shirt and tan pants. "Yo, Taki, where's my rent money? It's the first of the month."

"My name is Kai, and you know I don't have it Ricardo," Kai said.

"Well, you aren't going to be living here much longer if you can't pay the rent. You got any money on you?"

Kai pulled out his 5 dollars, "All I have is the 5 dollars for..." Before he could finish his sentance Ricardo grabbed it away from him. "Hey, I was going to use that for my lunch today," Kai said.

"And now it's going to the rent. With this, you got another night to get me some money before I kick you out."

"But, I need this place, I have no other place to stay, and you know I can't get any money until next week."

"I missed the part where that's my problem. Why don't you go sell your stupid cards, then you'll have some money."

"Sell my Duel Monsters cards?" Kai said quietly.

"Get outta here," Ricardo said as he pointed to the stairs. "Bring me my money," he said as Kai slowly walked towards the stairs.

Kai walked out the door of the apartment building and stood outside looking up at the sky. He sighed and started walking towards the school. He walked in silence until he heard someone calling his name. "Kai, hey Kai wait up." Kai turned around to see a red haired girl wearing the pink girls school uniform running up to him. "Kai, I thought you were going to call me last night. What happened?"

Kai stood there sighing, "Ricardo cut my phone line Sprite, I'm sorry, I would have called you."

"Oh, well, it's ok. So, excited for this weekend?" Sprite asked him as they continued to walk towards the school.

"What's to be excited for? I have to sell my cards," Kai said really sullen.

"WHAT?" Sprite cried out. "Why would you do that?"

"Ricardo want's this months rent by tomorrow or else he's kicking me out of the apartment. I have no choice, I need the money."

"What an ass, that's not fair," Sprite said complety appalled. "What about, the Black Magician Girl that your mom got you, just before she..."

"Surviving right now is more important than cards," Kai said as he looked down at the deck box attatched to his belt. He sighed and continued to walk towards the school. Sprite followed right after him. "I'm sure there is an other option, I can help you with the money..."

"No, I need to do this," Kai said quietly. They got to the school and they walked down to the cafeteria where their other friends were sure to be waiting. They got down there and saw Hajime, he was wearing his newly aquired black trentch coat and blue pants. Hajime had thick brown hair, much like Kai's only Kai's was a bit longer than Hajime's due to not being able to get a haircut for months. Kai sat down across from Hajime and sighed. "Let's go," Kai said pulling out his deck. "My last duel."

"Please don't tell me that the countless pownings I've delivered to you have caused you to give up the game," Hajime said annoyed. "If that's the case then you good sir epiclly fail!"

"It's not that," Kai depressed while looking down at the cards he was shuffling.

"Wait, what's wrong?" Hajime asked, realizing that Kai wasn't his usual energetic self.

"Ricardo is going to kick Kai out if he can't pay the rent and so now Kai has to sell his cards in order to get the money to stay in the apartment," Sprite explained looking down at Kai.

"What? That manipulative asshole," Hajime said annoyed. "You know he despises this game, that's why he wants you to sell them."

"How'd you know he sugessted that?" Kai asked looking up at Hajime.

"You would never willingly think of selling your cards unless someone planted that Idea into your head to do so. And we all know how much Ricardo hates Duel Monsters, thats why whenever we have parties we either hang out at Sprite's or Nine's house."

"Speaking of which, where is Nine?" Sprite asked.

"Someone devoured my soul!" Nine shouted while grabbing on to Sprite's shoulders and shaking her. Sprite screamed, grabbed his arm, and swung him over her shoulder, pounding him into the floor. She looked down to see a tall brown haired boy. His hair was short and thin and his blue eyes looked as if they had just been poked out with a spear.

"NINE!" Sprite shouted at the boy on the floor, "what the hell did you think you were doing scaring me like that?"

"Well sorry, I thought you liked jokes," Nine said as Sprite helped him up. "Ow, that really hurt."

"Well that's what you get," Sprite said crossing her arms. "So, what happened to your eyes? They look horrible.

"I stayed up studing for a chemistry test, I got maybe two hours of sleep tops."

"Oh shit!" Kai cried out. "The chem test! I completly forgot about it!"

"From what I hear, that should be the least of your worries," Nine said. "We have to figure out a way for you through this whole buisness with Ricardo so that you don't have to sell your cards."

"But theres nothing I can do. I don't have any money," Kai said.

"We can help you out, we can support you for a while," Nine said.

"No, because then I will have to pay you back eventually. I just have to find a way to get a good deal out of all this." Kai started looking around as if he was looking for someone. "Where's Domid?" he asked.

"He left early to go talk to a teacher," Hajime said. "I'm not sure if he'll be back or not."

"That's not important right now," Nine said, "We have to get together after school today, and the topic of the meeting, 'Help Kai.'"

"Thanks everyone," Kai said smiling slightly.

"I'll contact Domid today when I see him in Topics," Nine said.

"Alright," Kai said. The bell rang signlaling that they all had 5 minutes to get to class or they would have to go sign in late. Hajime and Nine went up the stairs while Kai put his deck back into his deck box. Sprite stood there watching him, waiting for him to get up. "I'll see you this afternoon," Kai said to her. He turned to leave but felt her hand on his shoulder stopping him. He turned around to look at her. "Yes Sprite?"

"We'll help you get through this, I promise," she said as she wrapped her arms around him into a comforting hug.

He hugged her back, "Thanks, you've always been there to support me," Kai said smiling slightly.

"And I always will be," She said. "I have to get going, good luck on your Chem test," she said as she turned around to head up the stairs.

Kai turned around towards the direction that Nine had headed and slowly walked towards his class. He entered the classroom only to just miss the bell from ringing him late. His teacher, looked at him sternly. "Barely making it again Taki-kun?"

Kai gave him a mental middle finger and took his seat. "Well class, I hope you all studied, some of you don't look to happy to be here right now," he said looking right at Kai. "But, we all have overlook any meager problems and just get on with life, starting with this exam. You have the full class block to take it, if you finish, be respectful to the other students by not talking." The teach passed out the test and Nine gave Kai a thumbs up while Kai just rolled his eyes. Kai looked down at his paper and realized instantly that if grades were life points, and if he was a monster, the exam was Exodia and his life points were about to drop to zero.

* * *

After chemistry Kai and Nine were walking out of the class together. Kai had managed to explain his feelings towards the test to Nine and Nine just chuckled. "I doubt you did that bad."

"I suck at chemistry," Kai reminded him.

"Then I'm sure you failed and we can chalk it up to a shitty life," Nine said smiling at him getting Kai pissed off at him. "Anyway, we're having the meeting at my house. I'll see you there right after school." Kai nodded and then went down a seperate hallway to get to his next class.

The day seemed to drag forever and something in the back of Kai's mind told him that he wasn't going to end the day well. Suicide was an option, and it was looking damn good by noon. Honestly, how much harder could eternal suffering be for taking his own life compared to the suffering he already had. Still, he had a reason to keep on going. He wouldn't deny it to anyone but his friends, but he was in love with Sprite. He had been almost ever since they met, but his life didn't seem to be playing by the rules and he didn't want to drag her down in the rut. He was sure she had some level of feelings for him as well, but he never brought it up. He'd have to make the first move, and he wasn't ready yet. But as long as he knew it would devistate her if he took his life, he was going to keep going, for just a little while longer.

* * *

By the time school ended Kai was exhausted. He just wanted to go lay down on his bed and sleep, but he knew that his friends would become angry at him if he wasn't there since they were trying to help him. Kai walked over to Nine's house and when he got there was invited inside by Nine's mom. She led him to where the others were and he plopped down on the couch next to Dominid.

"Bad day?" Domid asked. Domid had thick black hair that went down to his forehead. He was of Asian decent and Kai had sometimes joked due to the way Dominid wore his hair that he was the missing 6th Beetle.

"Bad past year," Kai said as he rubbed his temples. "Now, I want you all to know that I don't want you all to feel as though you need to do this."

"Well if you didn't suck at life so much we wouldn't have to do this now would we?" Hajime asked him. "But, we've all grown attached to you, more or less," everyone nodded, "and some more than others," they looked at Sprite suspiciously. It was no secret, but until the two either had sex or at least started dating they weren't going to press the subject. "So it's more of a wanting to help you than a needing to help you. Even though you do need serious help. "Now, since we only have until tomorrow, I think what we should do is each put in a bit of money, just enough to give him the rest of the week until we actually think of a better plan."

Kai started sighing and then Sprite looked at him worriedly. "Is something else wrong?"

"I'm a wreck over there, you shouldn't even bother wasting your money, I have absolutly nothing going for me there. There's no food in the fridge, I have dirty clothes all over the place since I don't have any change for the laundry machines. Ricardo shut off my phone and hot water. The only thing your money would go for is him allowing me to stay there for the week, I wouldn't have anything for the other things I need. I have no choice, I have to sell my cards."

"No you don't," Domid said to him. "We can put in a bit more so that you can buy some food."

Kai only shook his head, "No, I can't allow you to do that. I'm surprised I'm letting you give me enough for the week. Going any farther would push me past what I can afford."

"We're not Ricardo, you can pay us back whenever you get the money," Hajime said to Kai. "We aren't going to hound you over it. Well I will, but that's only because I'm such a nice person," he smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Anyway, we're only giving up 15 bucks a person, thats 60 right there. If he let you stay till tomorrow on 5, that means you'll have 35 to get past the week, that leaves you 25 for food. Sure it's not alot, but if you just buy a box of cerel, milk, and random snacks you'll be able to hold on until that check from your dad comes."

"Which will go straight to Ricardo, I won't be able to pay you back."

"We already told you, don't worry about paying us back," Sprite said. "Pay us back whenever you get the chance."

"Yeah man, we're doing it because we are your best friends," Nine said giving him a thumbs up.

"Thanks everyone," Kai said. "Listen, I have to get back to the apartment. I want to make sure I can get him off my back for now." He resentfully took the money from everyone and then got up to walk to the door. Sprite got up with him.

"I'll walk you back to the apartment," she said getting her coat on. Nine, Domid, and Hajime walked out the door with them. "Nine, looks like you got some mail," Sprite said handing it to him.

"Thanks, you guys better get going," Nine said.

"Yeah, see you all tomorrow," Kai said waving. With that they headed off.

Nine, Domid and Hajime stood around looking at the lone peice of mail. It was an nvelope with the words, "Grand Prize Winner," on it. "I wonder if, if this could be from that Duel Monsters Contest I entered 3 months ago?" Nine said. He opened up the mail and a card fell out into his hand. He gasped as everyone else started at awe in it.

-

Kai was walking next to Sprite looking down at the money. Sprite noticed that he looked depressed looking at it. "We did it because we wanted to," Sprite said.

"It's not that," Kai said. Sprite looked puzzled so Kai continued. "It's been a year now. So far I've been living off the checks my step-dad sends me, but Ricardo got all nasty and jacked my prices. If I don't do something soon I'll be homeless."

"Don't talk like that, we'll figure something out," Sprite said trying to cheer him up.

They walked in silence for a bit until they got to the apartment and noticed a rather large van out in the front. "I wonder what that's doing there," Kai questioned. Just then he noticed two men in blue uniforms carring out his night stand and Ricardo following them out with a wad of money in his hand. "That's my nightstand!" Kai cried out as he ran over to Ricardo. "What the hell are they doing with my nightstand?" Kai yelled at Ricardo.

"Oh, hello Taki, I just made enough money by selling your things to pay off your debt. Consider it a thanks seeing as how I doubt your cards would have been enough." Ricardo looked at Kai and just snikered.

"You asshole!" Kai screamed, he tried to punch Ricardo but Sprite held him back.

"Kai don't!" she pleaded, "he's not worth it!"

"Let go of me Sprite, he needs to pay for what he's done!"

Ricardo just laughed, "Go ahead, punch me, you're homeless now, I can have you arrested if you try to hit me." Kai just growled while Sprite did the best she could to hold him back. "Tell ya what, I'll give you 5 minutes to get out of my face before I call the police and tell them that there's a homeless kid trying to punch me."

"I'll kill you!" Kai screamed.

Ricardo reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, "5 minutes, 5 seconds, boy, I can't count today."

"Kai, we have to get out of here now!" Sprite said. She pulled him away forcibly as Kai screamed at Ricardo.

"You'll burn in hell for this, know that now!" Kai yelled with all his might.

"Come on, we have to go!" Sprite pleaded. Kai stopped struggling and just glared at Ricardo.

"You'll pay, I know you will," Kai said. He ran into the van where the nightstand was, pulled it open, found his picture, pulled it out and then ran off with Sprite while the movers where yelling at him to come back with it. Kai and Sprite easily out ran them and soon found themselves a good quarter-mile away from the apartment. They stopped to catch their breath when Kai fell onto his knees. "I'm done, I have nothing left," he said.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out," Sprite said kneeling down next to him. "It will be alright. Don't worry."

-

Sdrive: Wow, this lasted longer than I thought, it was just supposed to be like a prolouge but it actually turned into a real chapter. Well, for those of you worried, don't, for it will get things rolling soon. The next Chapter should be out sometime either today, or tomorrow, but most likely tonight. Power to the Hikari's


	2. A New Hope

Sdrive: Well, here we go with the second chapter of Sky Top Duelists. I'm not going to say too much about it except that it will probably be yet another long chapter. Well, I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I own everything!

Background Guy: You mis read it look again.

Me-looks at note card again- whoops, sorry.

Disclaimer Take 2: I own nothing!

Sdrive: Actually, I take all ownership over Sprite and Kai, they are my own creations. Hajime, Nine and Dominid are all based on others.

-

Kai and Sprite walked into Sprites house. Sprite's mom was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. She looked up and was slightly startled. "Oh, Kai, I didn't realize you were coming over today." She noticed that Kai didn't ackowledge her and that he seemed pretty depressed. "Kai? Are you ok?" she asked worridly.

"Ricardo, Kai's landlord, kicked him out and sold all his stuff while he was at school today, he's homeless now," Sprite explained.

Sprite's mom was shocked, "Oh Kai. I'm so sorry. What is he going to do?"

"I told him he could stay here tonight so that he didn't have to sleep out on the streets."

"Oh of course," Sprite's mom said. "I'll go get the guest room ready." She walked out to go get the room ready for Kai.

Sprite led Kai to the couch and they sat down together. Kai just sat there looking at his feet, completly depleated of faith. Sprite watched over Kai and just felt so hopeless not being able to actually help him. All she could do was help give him a place to stay for a little while, but other than that there was nothing she could do. "Thank you." She looked around and then looked back at Kai and realized that it was him that had said thank you.

"What for?" Sprite asked.

"For helping me keep what little faith I had."

"What do you mean by that?"

"By knowing that I can keep faith in my friends, I know that I have a bit of faith left."

"Kai," Sprite said quietly. She just stared at him, and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She put her arm around his shoulder and he looked up at her. His green eyes, they were no longer sparked with energy. They looked lost, as though he was someone entirly different.

"I'm sorry to have to put you in this position," Kai said to her.

"It's no problem," Sprite said reasuringly. "I would do anything for you."

"Thank you," he said.

Sprite's mom came back into the room, "the rooms ready."

Kai looked over at her, "thank you." He stood up and Sprite got up with him. "I need have to get some sleep, I'm really stressed. Thank you for your kind hospitality."

"It's not a problem," Sprite's mom said. Kai headed off into the guest room. He sat down and soon realized that he only had his school clothes, picture, and Duel Monsters cards. He sighed, took of his hat, jacket, and belt. He placed them on the floor, climbed into the bed and shut the light off.

Sprite was in the other room explaining the situation to her mom when the phone rang. Her mom went and got it. "Hello? Oh, yes she's right here. It's for you honey," she said handing over the phone to Sprite.

"Hello?" Sprite asked.

"It's me Domid, Nine, Hajime and I have urgent news that you have to hear," Domid said.

"So do I, and I'm pretty sure mine's more important right now, put me on speaker phone."

"Ok, I'm on speaker phone, but I don't think that anything could be more important than this."

"Kai's homeless," Sprite said quietly.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you," Nine's voice said through the phone.

"I think she said that Kai is homeless," Domid's voice said. "But that can't be right, he has until at least tomorrow."

"No, you heard me right," Sprite said. "Ricardo went and sold all of Kai's things that where in his apartment and kicked him out. He's over here at my house, he went to bed."

"Oh man, I can't beleive that Ricardo did that," Domid said.

"I can," Hajime's voice said. "He's always hated Kai, and this was the perfect excuse to finally get him out of his face."

"What are we going to do?" Nine's voice asked.

"I'm going to let him stay here until we can find a place for him to stay," Sprite said.

"If you ever need a break I can lend my house to him for a while," Hajime's voice said.

"Mine too," Domids voice said.

"And mine," Nine's voice came in. "My parent's love Kai, think he's the best kid on two feet.

"Your parents think that about everyone," Hajime's voice said.

"Yeah, but Kai worked for my parents over the summer. That's why they love him so much."

"He's got you there Hajime," Domid's voice said.

"Hey, if it's alright with you guys, I have to get some sleep. It's been a pretty stressful hour. It's still pretty light out but this whole thing has shot my nerves. I'm going off to take a nap. We have the day off tomorrow so I suggest we all have an emergency meeting."

"Agreed," Hajime said.

"My house again?" Nine asked.

"That's our best bet," Domid said. "It's closest out of all our houses."

"Ok, tomorrow at about 10:00," Sprite said. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Sprite told her mom goodnight and she went to go lay down in her bed. "Poor Kai," she said to herself as she was laying down. "I sure hope he gets through this ok. I'll do anything I can to help." Her eyes slowly shut and she fell off to sleep.

-

Sprite woke up to a the sound of water running through the pipes. She looked over at her clock and saw that it read 5:45. She looked out the window and was astonished to find that it was dark out. It was normally still light out at 5:45. She looked at the clock to see that it was 5:45 in the morning. "I can't beleive I actually slept throughout the night." She stood up, stretched out, and went to go figure out where the water was coming from. She found her answer from the other side of the bathroom door.

She went into her white kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cerial. She took out the milk and started pouring that in too. She sat down and slowly began eating. After she was done she was still hungry so she poured an other bowl. While eating her second bowl she heard the water stop and heard the bathroom door open right as the clock turned 6:02. 3 minutes later Kai came out in his school uniform.

"Kai, what are you doing in your school uniform?" She asked.

"It's all I have left for clothing, all my other clothes were at the apartment," he said.

"Oh yeah," she said remember that all he got back was his picture. "Well, we can go get you some new clothes with the money that was supposed to go to the apartment. I'm sure the others won't mind. At least you don't have to use it for food now."

"Yeah," Kai said. He sat down next to Sprite and poured himself a bowl of cereal. He poured in his milk and sat there and ate quietly. After he was done he just continued to sit there.

"We're having an emergency meeting at Nines to discuss how this is all going to work."

"I see," Kai said, although he didn't interested. He sounded lost, as if his mind was blank.

Sprite was really down now. She put her arm around Kai, he looked at her and she just smiled, "Everything will be fine," she said. "We'll help you get through this, I promise."

For the first time in hours Kai actually smiled. "Thank you. You all are the best friends I could ever have."

"Anything for our best friend," she said sweetly.

The morning went by rather uneventful. Sprite and Kai dueled for a bit but she could tell that he wasn't really into the match. He was making sloppy moves and didn't have his mind focused on the game. They stopped after a while and just sat watching tv, but she could sense that he was mostly staring off into space. 10:00 finally came around and it was time for them to leave. They left and headed off towards Nine's house. When they got there Nine's mom answered the door.

"Oh, hello Kai, hello Sprite. I hate to tell this to you but Nine's not here right now."

This got even Kai's attention, "I thought that we were supposed to be meeting here," he said.

"Nine called saying something had come up and he couldn't make the meeting. He asked me to call you two but when I did you two had already left. I'm sorry."

"Do you know when he will be back?" Sprite asked,

"I don't, but he told me to tell you to wait for a call."

"Oh, alright," Kai said. "Well, I guess we should get going then. We have some things we have to do."

"Ok, I'll see you all later then," Nine's mom said. Kai and Sprite left to go get some clothes. Sprite and Kai had a good time dressing Kai up in funny outfits. They spent about an hour at the clothing store before they decided to get some lunch. They went to a small burger stand where they could chose to sit inside or outside. The decided to sit outside since the wheather was beautiful and the sun was shining brightly. They each ordered burgers and then shared a Hot Fudge Sunday. Sprite managed to lighten Kai's mood. At one point he had said that this was the best time he'd have since he moved into the apartment. They pulled out their decks and started dueling. Kai actually ended up winning by a landslide, something that didn't normally happen when he faced Sprite. He could win but he was never able to wipe her out.

They headed home and when they got inside Kai was smiling and laughing, just like he used to. Kai changed his clothes and then they decided to play a board game. After about an hour no one was really wining the game so they decided to give it up and move onto something else. At 5:37 the phone rang. They were currently in the middle of a movie playing on the tv, they had a blue blanket around them and were laughing. Kai bent down and picked up the phone from the coffee table and handed it to Sprite.

"Hello?" Sprite asked into the phone.

"Sprite?" The voice said on the other end.

"Well, if it isn't Nine who decided to bail out on us this morning," Sprite said rather annoyed. This got Kai's attention and he looked over to watch her.

"Listen, I think we have figured out how to help Kai. Come over to my place ASAP."

"Are you going to actually be there this time?" Sprite asked.

"Yes, you have to come now!"

"Alright, we'll be right there." She clicked of the phone and got up. "Nine said he's figured out a way to help you. He wants us to get there now."

"Well, why not, we're only missing the best part of the movie," Kai said.

"Oh shut up and come on," Sprite said giggling a bit. Kai got up, put on his coat and hat, decided to attatch his belt with his deck and he was ready. They left and walked started to head over to Nine's house. "I wonder what they did to get this startlign relavation," Sprite wondered out loud.

"Well, if it's good enough it might just save me," Kai said, a determined sound in his voice. They walked in silence up until they saw Nine's house in sight. "Well, let's go." They knocked on the door and Nine's mom opened it again.

"Looks like you caught him this time," she said smiling. "They're down in the basement," she said. They said thank you and walked down to the basement where Nine's room was. They turned left and saw Domid, and Hajime on the couch and Nine on a tan recliner. Kai noticed a manella folder on the coffee table.

"Sit down," Nine said to them. They did as they were told and sat on the floor. "Ok, first I think I stand for all three of us when I say I'm sorry for ditching the 10:00 meeting, but something really important came up."

"What could be more important than a meeting about how to help our best friend?" Sprite asked.

"How about the way to help him?" Hajime said.

"What are you talking about?" Kai asked.

"We went into that large card shop to pick you up some Magician's Force booster packs to try to lift your spirit," Domid explained. "And then we learned that the store was an official site to hold qualifications for this years World Championship Duel Monsters Compition. Problem was they were about to start and if we wanted to sign up we had to do it then."

"You ditched us for cards?" Sprite asked furiously.

"Yes," Hajime chuckled. "But there's more to the story. We learned that the winner of the World Championship Compition would be awarded 50,000 dollars."

"50 grande!" Kai and Sprite both said at the same time.

"Yeah, and along with that the winner also gets some secret cards or something like that, they weren't too specific," Domid said. "But we decided right then if we could get into this tournament and win it, we could get tickets to the World Championships and have a chance for the 50 grande."

"First place winner was to be awarded his ticket, and two more for friends," Nine explained. "Second place was given their ticket and one extra for one of their friends. Take a guess at who got first and second places?"

"No way, you're kidding me!" Kai said.

"Nope," Nine said. "I ended up winning first place, and Hajime got second."

"Wait, Hajime got second? That surprises me, how did you beat him Nine? I mean, I know you are a great duelist and all but Hajime's pretty tough and you've always had problems defeating him in the past."

"Do you remember that peice of mail I received last night?"

"Yeah," Sprite said. "Hey, is that what you had originally called for last night?"

"Yes," Nine said. "About 3 months ago I had entered a contest to win a rare card. I didn't know what the card would be but it seemed like a pretty big thing. So I entered and in order to win I had to take this huge Duel Monsters Test and send it into the Industrial Illusions, the place that created the game. And Apparently I won it, because the card inside was," he pulled a card out of his deck and held it up for Sprite and Kai to see. They both gasped.

"A Blue Eyes White Dragon!" They said simultaniously.

"Yes, one of the only four ever made. Remember that huge fire in America that happend about a year ago?"

"Yeah I remember that," Kai said. "Wait a second. If your talking about the fire I think your talking about, that was the fire where the guy who lived there, lost his home, along with the four Blue Eyes White Dragons he had spent millions of dollars getting."

"Exactly. Industrial Illuisons realized that they couldn't keep the game alive without the Blue Eyes so they decided to recreate the four that were lost in the blaze. Then they sent tests out to four different countries, Japan, America, China, and Egypt. I pulled off the highest score for Japan and won the Blue Eyes that was sent out for us. Guess who one the American Blue Eyes?"

"Logic says that it's probably not possible but chances are, the guy who lost the original four," Sprite said.

"Yup," Domid said. "Surprisingly enough he had the highest test scores out of all the Americans and won the Blue Eyes. It's also rumored that he's going to the World Championships."

"Wouldn't doubt it," Kai said. "So, any Idea who got the other two?"

"It didn't announce the names of the other holders," Domid explained. "The only reason they mentioned that he won it again, was because it was such a weird twist of fate. However they don't reveal his name."

"Well, most likely they'll all be at the tournament," Nine said. "Hopefully I can play them for the right to win the Blue Eye's. With my Dragon deck, those Blue Eyes would kick ass."

"So, are we all going to the World Championships?" Sprite asked.

"Yup," Domid said.

"The Tournament begins next week and runs for about a full week," Hajime said. "It's being on that large dueling island. You know, the one with the fameous Sky Top Dueling Arena. The one that gets raised into the sky so that you can see the whole Island from up top. However, only finalists in the tournament are allowed to enter the Sky Top Dueling Arena. There the final 8 players square off for the Championship. If we practice all week, and buy new packs and improve our decks to the best of our abilities, we could stand a very good chance. We have Nine's Blue Eyes White Dragon which will help us alot."

"If all five of us make it to the finals then we have the best bets of winning the whole thing, and if we do, we can give you the money," Domid said.

"Whoever wins out of us, can keep the championship," Nine said. "But the money goes to Kai."

"Thank you guys, all of you," Kai said as he looked around the room at his friends.

"Anytime," Nine said. "With my two tickets I bring along Sprite and Kai."

"And with my extra ticket I bring along Domid," Hajime said.

"How did you fare anyway Domid?" Kai asked.

"4th place actually," Domid said. "I could have won too, I had just brought out my Thousand Eyes and assimilated his Archfiend Soldier. I could have attacked him dirrectly for the game but he pulled the Ring of Destruction and Barrel Behind the Door combo and took out the last of my life points. I had a Seven Tools face down but I didn't have enough life points to activate it."

"Well, at least we know you have a fighting chance," Sprite said.

"I'm the one who has the least chance of winning," Kai said. "My deck has some good cards in it but ever since Ricardo my money has been sucked up right into his bank account. I haven't been able to really get any new cards." Suddenly 5 Magicians Force booster packs were tossed to Kai.

"Those are the 'we are trying to make you feel better' booster packs," Hajime said. "You don't have to pay us back for those. We'll suport you card wise until the tournament and if we win it, you can just pay us back then. If you don't win, don't feel too inclined to pay us back. Just do it if you can.

"Thanks again guys," Kai said. He looked at his friends again. "Well, since the finals are being held in the Sky Top Dueling Area, and we have to make it to the finals to win, I think we should have getting to the Sky Top Dueling Arena our main goal until we are in the finals. We should think up some name for our selves."

"The Mighty Morphing Dueling Rangers?" Domid sugessted. Due to his suggestion he was hit in the head with a pillow by Hajime.

"Code-name Save Kai?" Nine asked.

"Boo!" Sprite said.

"Hey I tried," Nine said.

"No, I was thinking going more along with our goal," Kai said. "I was thinking, Sky Top Duelists."

"That's not too bad," Hajime said.

"It's actually got a kinda nice ring to it," Domid agreed.

"I like it," Nine said.

"I guess that settles it," Sprite said.

"So from now on, we are known as The Sky Top Duelists," Kai said.

-

Sdrive: alright, and there was another chapter. Told you all it would be up by tonight. Well I realize I don't have any reviews but I still decided to post this chapter now anyway. You can probably expect another chapter or two to be coming along sometime this week. So, just incase anyones wondering. 1. There is no Kaiba Corp, Sennen Items, or Industrial Illisions, in this. I just didn't want to say, 'Konami sent out a test," so instead I kept it with just Industrial Illisions. 2. This will have Duel Disks in it, if you read the theme song you would know that. It's based as if it were regular everyday people going to a World Championship but it's sorta futuristic. Especiall the Sky Top Dueling Arena. But there will be Duel Disks, just not anything made from Kaiba Corp. 3. Sprite and Nine are nicknames. If you notice the favorite card of one of the Characters is Raging Flame Sprite, so let's all become Rocket Scientists and try to figure this out. Nine actually isn't as easy to understand. You were all probably thinking, "who would name their kid Nine?" well, who would name their kid Yugi either but thats besides the point. Nine is based off a really good friend of mine named Josh. His last name is Nine. So In the story his nickname is his last name. Almost like how everyone calls Seto Kaiba, Kaiba. 4. The Blue Eyes are as rare here as they are in the show. Ok, I think that covers any reviewers who might have had questions. Ok, Well, I'm gonna go watch Anime now, it's SAN Saturday Anime Night. Power to the Hikari's.

P.S. Hold the phones, I just actually noticed that it finally came up and there is a review from Reaver of Heaven so there fore I will respond to my first reviewer ever.

Reaver of Heaven: Yup, at first I didn't understand what you meant and when I re-read it I realized, oh yeah, it just went and got ten times worse. Actually in all honesty, I started to depress myself writing that chapter lol. But hopefully it all became better for you. Thanks for reviewing, being as though you are my first reviewer-throws him a Bakura Plushy- there ya go.

Power to the Hikari's


	3. The Cruise Ship

Sdrive: Wow, people actually really enjoy this. This is a great feeling knowing that I am doing a good job as a writer. So, another chapter for all those lovely readers out there.

Disclaimer: Story idea, Kai, and Sprite, only things I own.

Two days had passed since the meeting at Nine's house and things were going a bit better than they had. Kai had pulled some really useful cards out of his booster packs and had reconstructed his deck however it was still missing cards needed for it to be better. "I'm sure there will be card shops and people more than willing to trade with you when we go to the tournament," Hajime said as he walked along with Kai.

"You're problably right, but my problem is that I don't have a lot to trade. The best cards I have are in my deck, and I can't afford to trade them."

"Well, when we get to Nakato's, I'm sure he will be willing to help out."

"Thanks for coming along with me to see him, Sprite had to go with her dad to go pick something up and Nine and Domid are working on their decks. You were the only one in the group not busy."

"It's no problem, but I'm sure Nakato would have helped you with your deck problem even without me being there."

"Yeah, but it's more of a support thing really." They kept walking until they got to Nakato's Card Shop. They walked in and saw Nakato at his computer behind the desk. "Hey Nakato," Kai said nodding his head.

Nakato looked up from his computer. "Well, if it isn't Kai, I haven't seen you in here for a while, what can I do ya for?"

"My deck for starters. The landlord kicked me out of my apartment so I've been staying with a friend. I'm hoping to get new cards so that I will stand a better chance at winning the World Championship this year. My very survival is being counted on me winning the 50 Grand."

"Well, let me take a look at your deck there," Nakato said. Kai handed over his deck as Nakato shuffled through it, giving the occasionaly 'uh huh,' and, 'I see.' He handed the deck back to Kai and got up from his chair. "Follow me," he said as he jumped over the counter and took them glass case. "It seems as though your deck runs Magicians, so some good Magician support cards are necissary." He removed the glass and picked up 4 cards from it. He handed them to Kai to see.

"Black Magic Attack, Diffuision Wave-Motion, Black Magician of Chaos, and Black Paladin?" Kai asked.

"Yup, very rare and powerful cards when used correctly in a Magician Deck," Nakato said. He then walked over towards a stand with booster packs. "A few Magician Force booster packs would help as well."

Kai nodded picking up some packs. They walked back over to the counter and set down the cards and packs. "I doubt I'll be able to afford all this, I might only have enough for just one of the cards and a booster put together."

"Well, you and your family have always been great customers. I could let you off with a discount," Nakato said.

"Yeah," Kai said looking down. "Now I just have to figure out what to pick."

Hajime looked at the cards and then at Nakato, "Hey Nakato, didn't Kai do some manual labor for you about 6 months ago?"

"Oh yeah, I told you I'd give you a reward for that but then you stopped coming."

"Money was tight and I never had the time to stop by. The landlord was sucking all the money I made right out of my hands and into his. That was about the time he had started to jack the prices of rent."

"Well, How about this, I throw in two of the cards as your Manual Labor work, you can use the discount for always coming here, and that should cover everything."

"I you sure about this?" Kai asked.

"Of course I am. You deserve them from all the times you've come by and supported the store, and for all the hard work you did for me during the summer. Helping me fix my roof was a big help. Ya know, I'll throw in another 4 boosters."

"Oh no, I couldn't except them."

"Nonsense, you were the one who really did all the work on the roof, I just told you what to do really. Just two cards really isn't enough for you working you're butt off for me in that hot sun and also going to your job. It's my treat."

"Thank you," Kai said. He paid for the cards and thanked Nakato again. "I promise, if I win the Championships, I'll repay you back, I really shouldn't be accepting all this."

"I have faith in you Kai. You're a good kid with a kind heart. You've built an excellent deck with the cards you have. I can only hope that these cards will help you out more."

"Well, lets find out," Hajime said.

Kai nodded and opened the packs. He pulled a Skilled Black Magician in one pack, and a Skilled White Magician in another. He pulled a couple Apprentice Magicians, and some other good cards. "Wow, these are awesome," Kai said smiling.

"Skilled White and Black will be very helpful in summoning the Black Paladin you bought. I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you," Kai said. "Come on Hajime, I have some deck building to do." Kai and Hajime waved good bye to Nakato and headed back to Sprite's house. "He really shouldn't have done all that," Kai said while they were walking.

"You're right, but he did it because he feels bad for you, and wants to help you, just like we all do."

"I will pay him back, I promise."

Kai had arrived back at Sprite's house and Hajime had walked home. He was going through his deck, carefully picking and choosing cards to take out and put in. "It would be a shame to let these 4 cards go to waste," he said. He promised himself that he would find a place to put them. After about an hour he was finally finished with it. He looked it over with pride. He flipped through every card until he got to his favorite two cards, the Black Magician, and the Black Magician Girl.

"My mom bought me this card," he said to no one in particular when he looked at the Black Magician Girl. "Right before she died. And the Black Magician was given to me by Nine, as a symbol of our friendship. Ever since then the Magicians have been my favorite type of card. This new deck has my entire heart and soul into it. As long as I remember what I'm fighting for, I can't lose."

Kai heard the front door open and put his deck down to go greet whoever was coming in. He walked out to see Sprite and her dad coming in with a few bags. Kai went over to help them bring in the bags. Him and Sprite then went back into Sprite's room and Sprite collapsed on her bed smiling. "Well, my dad and I just finished helping an old friend of his move into their house. The man there knew that I was really into Duel Monsters so as a thank you for helping me he gave me a few packs and check this card out." She handed him a card and he looked at it.

"Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch?" Kai asked reading the name. He looked over it's effect and smiled. "That's not such a bad card," he said.

"Yeah, and it's two hundred points stronger than my Twin Headed Fire Dragon and plus it has an awesome effect so I'm going to take out the Fire Dragon and replace it with this."

"Awesome," Kai said handing the card back to her.

"Yeah," she said looking at the card. She then pulled out her deck and took out three cards. "My Raging Flame Sprites," She said smiling. "My favorite cards, I wouldn't replace them for the world. They may be commons but I think they are the coolest cards ever."

"Their effects are pretty good," Kai said. "Ya know, I'm getting a really good feeling about this tournament. I think we are going to kick major butt in it."

"I do too," Sprite agreed. "You remember the plan, we head over to Nine's tonight for dueling and deck strengthening."

Kai nodded, "I wouldn't ever forget it. This is our only week to prepare. We have to make it count." Sprite nodded and then they sat there talking about the tournament for a bit longer. They went over to Nines after about an hour and began the dueling. They decided to have a mock tournament to see how they would all fair as their decks stood as they were. After they had finished they did a bit of deck fixing to make them flow a bit better and then they did another mock tournament. This continued about twice more and finally they were all happy with what they had.

They all left knowing they had the best deck they could possibly have with the cards they had. For the next 4 days they went over to each others houses and just dueled the day away, making sure they knew exactly what to do in what situations. They learned how to get a feel on their new decks and made sure that mistakes were non-existent. On the Fifth day it was finally time to head out. They had packed all the necessities the night before and Sprite's mom was car-pooling them all to the dock where the boat was waiting. When they got out Sprite's mom wished them all the best of luck and hugged Sprite.

"Be sure to think about me while you're out there," She said.

"Don't worry mom, I will," Sprite said smiling.

They all walked up towards the docks and the security guards just stared at them as if they were crazy. "No way, there is no way you were all invited," he said looking down at them.

Nine and Hajime both stood up towards them. They showed their tickets and explained that Kai, Domid, and Sprite were the guests they had chosen to invite. The Security guard just narrowed his eyes at all of them but knew that he had to let them in. "I need your names," he said to them. They each gave their names and the security guard typed it into a tiny computer. 5 plastic key cards came out of a slot next to the computer. They had their names on it along with various numbers. "These are your key cards, you use these to enter the boat room designated on the card. Also they serve as your hotel keys when you get to the island. He handed the card keys over to the duelists and they were admitted onto the boat.

"Well, that wasn't too hard," Kai said.

"I wonder what the Island will look like," Domid asked.

"Weird that this whole thing is being held on an island don't you think? I'm pretty sure that last years was held in New York City in America," Hajime said.

"Ya know, I do remember that at the 2004 World Championships they said that if all went well, this years World Championships would have a twist," Kai said thinking back to when he had watched the tournament on TV.

"This is probably just part of the whole twist," Sprite said smiling. "Come one, we gotta go find our rooms."

"They did say that it should take a full day to reach the Island," Nine said. "I wonder how many people are going to be here."

"These things usually get a pretty good turn out," Domid said. "But one boat, it's pretty...INCREDIBLE!"

"This isn't just any boat, it's a fricken cruise ship!" Kai gasped as they saw that they were looking at a huge chandelier. There was a red carpet on the floor and it had two stairways, one going right and the other left, both heading down to the lower levels where there were tons of small and little vendor stands. They all looked on in awe.

"A cruise ship?" they all said at the same time.

"Of course, what did you expect?" said a voice coming from the left stair case. They turned around and saw a long. blue haired kid. His purple eyes had a hint of cockiness, and he seemed to be smirking at the others. He was wearing a green jacket and underneath that was a blue shirt. He had on black pants and a black wrist band around his arm with a white skull with bones crossing each other making an X behind the Skull.

"Who are you?" Kai asked.

"Names Kayose, and if you had any brains than you would have realized that this would be a cruise ship. Only the best are allowed to go to this tournament. It's for the elite duelists, not any wanna-be who got here by a fluke." He looked down at the floor below them and chuckled. "Look at that," he said pointing down to some kids dueling in a small cafe.

"What about them?" Hajime asked clearly not enjoying the company of Kayose.

"I just came from there, and all they could talk about was how they were going to win this tournament. I reminded them that only one person could win and then said that they should duel each other to decide who would do better in the tournament. They instantly took out their cards and began dueling saying that no one else had any chance. It's pitiful really. All these duelists here think they are going to win this thing, they forget only one thing."

"What's that?" Nine asked narrowing his eyes.

"Only one person can win this. They all have their hopes up for nothing. It's people like that who are going to be eliminated in the first round. They haven't got any chance."

"Hypocrite!" Sprite yelled at him. "You're no better than them. You're preaching about how only one person can win, and yet there you are with this whole attitude that says that you think you're going to win. You have to get through all the others as well."

"I know I'll do well. I asked them if they had ever been to a World Championship before. Neither of them have, where as I have been to 4, and done exceptionally well. This year, with a deck filled with many rare cards, I know I'll win it all."

"So you're fighting for yourself then," Domid said more as a fact rather than a question.

"Of course, everyone who enters in this is out there for themselves," Kayose said smirking. "You can't possibly say that you aren't in it for yourself."

"I'm not," Domid said.

"Heh, yeah right."

"It's true! I'm here for..." before Domid could finish Kai cut him off.

"We don't need to explain our selves to you," Kai said.

"Oh, I see, all 5 of you are here together. And here I thought you were just losers who manged to get on at the same time. Oh wait, I was right, you all did get on at the same time and you are all losers."

"What makes you say that?" Nine asked.

"The fact that you didn't realize that the World Championships committee never spares any expenses to make sure that this has the World Championships have the better turn-outs than the previous World Championships. That means that you have never been to one, which means that you are all newbs like those losers down at that table, which means that you have no chance of beating someone like me."

That really pissed Sprite off, "How bout you prove it then! Duel me now!"

Kayose cocked an eyebrow, "Duel you? Sure why not." Sprite started reaching for her deck when he spoke again, "Oh yeah, now I remember why not. You stand no chance. It would be a waste of my time and plus I would embarrass you in front of your little play pals. Think of it as me doing you a favor by sparing you the humiliation."

Kai could see the fire in Sprite's eyes and he knew that she was about ready to rip Kayose's head off. "Sprite, just calm down, he just wants a reaction out of you."

"Good! He's about to get it, and a fist in his teeth to boot!"

"Heh, that proves that you are a nube," Kayose said smirking. "Newbs always get worked up when called by their rightful names." Suddenly they heard a ringing sound and Kayose pulled out a cell phone. "Go ahead. Yes, ok, yeah sure, whatever I'll be there right away." He put the cell phone away and smirked. "Looks like I wouldn't have time to duel the newb even if I wanted to. I'm needed elsewhere, catch ya later newbies." He turned around laughing as walked down the steps.

Kai grabbed Sprite by the arm as she ran by him. "Don't do it," he said, "You'll be disqualified."

"As if I care right about now!" she said. Then the guilt ran down her and she turned around. "Sorry Kai, I...I,"

"We can't let someone like that annoy us," Hajime said. "If we did that we would lose focus on what's truly important."

"I just can't stand people like him," Sprite said highly annoyed.

"There's always at least one of them," Nine said. "Come on, lets go check out our rooms."

They found their way to their rooms and were happy to see that they were right next to each other. They opened one of the rooms to see that the inside wasn't nearly as nice as the rest of the ship. "I guess the best rooms are reserved for the high ranking duelists," Kai said. "It's still a nice sized room though."

"Although it's cruise ship there are still other people other than duelists on board," Hajime said reading from a small booklet that he had received along with his ticket. "It seems that the Island is only one of many stops that this ship takes. It leaves the dock and then comes back the next week, at the end of the tournament. So that means that each duelist has to share a room with two others."

"But that would mean that two of us would be sharing a room with a complete stranger," Domid said. "So who are the two lucky people who share the room with the stranger?" Domid asked with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. They checked their key cards and the pairings came out to be Domid, Hajime, and Nine sharing the room they had opened, leaving Kai and Sprite to share the room with the random duelist.

"We just can't seem to get away from each other huh Sprite?" Kai said jokingly.

"Yeah, it's like we're magnets," she said smiling. They all decided to put their stuff in their rooms and then go get lunch together. It was still early but they wanted to get it out of the way before too many duelists boarded. Once they were all situated they headed out together and went back to the lobby. They decided that they would eat at the cafe that Kayose had pointed too, it looked promising enough.

"So, the food on this thing is free for duelists right?" Domid asked.

"We brought money just incase anyway," Hajime said.

It turned out that the food was free for the duelists so they all got a bit of food and sat down at a table to eat. They ate there and watched as there were other duelists who were busy dueling at tables inside the cafe. "They sure seem to be having fun," Nine mused as he looked around.

"It would appear so," Sprite said smiling. Once they were done with lunch they decided to go check out the ship. There were many different things on the ship including a movie theater, gymnasium, and large out door pool on the upper deck. "It's gigantic," Sprite said.

"Maybe if we have some time later we can go swimming," Kai said.

"I say we go now!" Sprite said pumping her fist in the air.

"Heh, more fun seekers," someone said from behind them. They turned around and saw a boy who seemed to be in his late teens with long flowing black hair. He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans. His brown eyes stared down at the tea he was holding. He took a sip and then looked at the group, "Here's a small little lesson for you kiddies, this isn't the minor leagues. I don't know how you got here and frankly I don't care, but you are all going down."

"Hey, all she said was that she wanted to go swimming, what's wrong with wanting to do something to pass time?" Domid asked.

"Its not that she wants to go swimming, its that she seems so unaware of how important this tournament is. She's not even taking this ship ride seriously. If she wanted to do well in the tournament then she would try to watch as many people duel as possible that way she can find out what kind of decks will be used."

"Oh, so you're just all knowing?" Domid asked.

"Please, if you knew any better you would know that you never want to mess with a duelist when you don't know what kind of deck they run. Take a good lesson from this encounter small child."

"What did you call me?" Domid asked.

The boy just kept on as if Domid hadn't said anything, "My name's Lin, and don't mess with me, for I am indestructible, I can not be beaten." Lin finished his tea and then got up and walked away.

Domid narrowed his eyes as Lin walked away. "Don't let him get to you," Hamjime said. "He's no better than that Kayose kid."

"Yeah, you're right," Domid said.

They took about 20 minutes to go back down to their rooms, grab their swim suites, and head back up to the pool. They spent about an hour just relaxing, and goofing off. They were having a lot of fun. They actually got out at one point to wave good bye to everyone as the boat started to sail off.

When they were done swimming they all got out of the pool. Everyone started to walk back down to the rooms but Kai stayed behind. He walked over to the side of the boat and stared out at the ocean and clouds. It was a spectacular view and it felt even better knowing that Ricardo wasn't in his life anymore. He felt a hand placed on his shoulder and turned to see Sprite smiling at him.

"I noticed you weren't following us so I decided to see where you had gone."

"Just checking out the view. Its so much nicer here than back at the apartment."

"Well, don't get to used to the boat, we dock at 12:00 tomorrow depending on how the weather is."

"It's more than that. I love knowing that I'm going to be away from Domino for a whole week. It's like a well needed vacation."

"In that case, we'll have to do something non-tournament related," Sprite said smiling.

"I think I would like that," Kai said nodding.

"Come on, let's head back to the room."

Everyone headed back into Nine, Domid, and Hajime's room and did a bit of practice with each other. They spent about two hours just practicing their skills and mentally psyching everyone up for the big day. Once they were all dueled out Domid looked at the time, "Can't believe its 4:30 already."

"We did take a tour of the ship that was about 45 minutes," Hajime said. Then we took 20 for walking up and down the decks to get our stuff when we went swimming, and another ten when we came back. We spent an hour swimming and two dueling."

"Jeez," Domid said. "I understand how it got to be 4:30, I just said I can't believe it."

"Wanna go see one of those movies?" Sprite asked.

"We've got nothing better to do right now," Nine said. "And it's still a bit too early for dinner. If we do see a movie it should end when dinner rolls around."

They decided on a movie to see and then made their way over to the on board movie and ended up only staying in it for an hour. Decided that they were too hungry from the swimming they headed off to the café that they had been too earlier.

"I can't believe that we actually skipped out on a movie," Kai said. "We've never done that."

"Ok, you can go back to the movie and we'll enjoy dinner without you," Hajime said.

"Now wait just a second there!" Kai said rather loudly which got a couple people to stair at him and two old people to shush him. "Jeez, Temperamental."

"We are kind of invading their space here," Nine said.

"Well, we had to get to the island somehow," Domid said. "I doubt they expect us to swim there."

"Here's your life jacket," Sprite said passing Domid an invisible life jacket.

"Thanks a lot but I don't need it."

The gang arrived at the café and started sharing stupid duel monsters jokes. "What do you call it when a Labrinth Tank crashes into a Black Magician?" Domid asked?

"Me destroying whoever crashed it!" Kai said laughing as the others chuckled.

"No, a Magic Jam!" Domid laughed as everyone else threw plastic knives at him.

"I've got one," Sprite said. "What happens when you look down at a Time Wizard and Time Eater? No one said anything so she continued: "Final Countdown."

Everyone groaned from the horrible joke. After dinner they decided that they were too tired to do much else. They thought they would go back and see the movie all the way through but they were just too tired to do anything else.

"I guess we should just head on up to sleep then," Nine said. Tiredly, everyone made their way to the rooms and said good night to each other. Sprite and Kai walked into their room and noticed that no one was in there with them.

"I guess the third duelist is still out on the ship," Sprite said.

"Yeah I guess so," Kai said. "But he or she has defiantly been in here."

"How can you tell?"

"Eyes and Brains, there is a set of luggage over there that we didn't put there."

"Oh, so there is," Sprite said noticing the luggage. "Well, I guess I'm going to get some sleep," she said as she eyed one of the two beds. "Wait a second, there are only two beds and yet three people."

"I'll sleep on the floor," Kai said.

"You don't have to do that," Sprite said. "We can rotate every 4 hours."

"No, I'll be fine, you get some sleep, I don't need to sleep on the bed, I'll be fine.

"Well, alright," Sprite said. "Have a good nights sleep," she said as she hugged him.

Kai blushed and in turn made Sprite giggle, "Um…goodnight?" Kai said nervously.

Sprite giggled again, "Goodnight."

Sprite went into the bathroom to change while Kai sat down on a small chair and looked outside at the ocean. Sprite came back out and laid down in one of the beds. She turned off the lights and put the covers over her shoulders. Kai watched her motionless figure and smiled. He looked out at the ocean again and began to think, 'Tomorrow starts off the tournament. A lot of questions will be answered tomorrow when the tournament begins.' He slowly fell into a deep sleep inside the chair. Tomorrow, would begin it all.

Sdrive: Yay, 3rd chapter finally completed. Sorry if it was kind boring, I promise the duels will begin soon. Alright, Review time,

Mina-chan: Yup, this is an Item and magic free tournament. The only thing slightly similar is how they will duel, and if you read the first chapter, the opening theme, you'll be able to see what I mean, but it's not related to Kaiba Corp.

Peace Writer: Glad to have caught your attention. And the Blue Eyes is rare and so are a lot of other cards. So that's how that works, but glad to see you are enjoying it.

Reaver of Heaven: Glad you like the plushy. Anything to make a fan happy. Yeah, he hates mooching even though he HAS too. Well, here is the posting you were looking for.

Voldermort's Daughter: Yeah, I know they are, I just think they are funny. Thanks for the complement.

AxelWildfire000: Thank you, it really means a lot when people enjoy the work that you do. I hope that you keep reading.

Zenryo: I just tried to write what I thought Domid would say. Glad you like it. –pumps fist in air- I got someone to say a word three times. That's a first.

Sdrive: Next chapter, The Duelists meet Sarosu, another annoyance, and then the they finally arrive on the island. The rules are explained and the tournament begins.

Power to the Hikari's


	4. Final Preparations

Sdrive: Meh, nothing much to say other than thank you for all the kind reviews you're giving. It's really rewarding when you get so many nice reviews, it makes you really want to go on and continue.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, probably never will, would be nice, but, yeah, yah know.

* * *

Kai slowly awoke to the morning light shining on his face. Tiredly he opened his eyes and realization dawned on him as he realized that he had fallen asleep on the chair. He looked out the window but quickly turned away for the sunlight was shining right in his face. He looked down and noticed that there was a blanket covering him up. He smiled and slowly stood up. 

His other senses soon started up, he heard a sound coming from the bathroom and realized that someone was in the shower. There was no one else in the room so he knew that it was either Sprite or the guest they were supposed to be sleeping with. He noticed that both beds where a mess so the other room mate had to have been in there, whether or not it was them in the shower was something different. Just then he smelt something that seemed familiar. He soon distinguished it as coffee and turned around to see a coffee pot on and half a pot of coffee.

He noticed a piece of paper on the next to the coffee pot. He walked over to it and read it. "Coffee" was all it said. "No, you must be kidding," Kai said to the piece of paper, "I thought it was Orange Juice." He didn't recognize the handwriting so took it to be the mysterious room guest that had written the note, if you could even call it that.

He wasn't sure if Sprite drank coffee but he knew that he would rather have some tea when they went to the cafe. He sat down on his chair and flipped through the on board tv chanles. Most of it was advertisments for the shops on the ship. Sighing out of boredom he finally chose a channel and stuck with it. He watched it for ten minutes until the door to the bathroom opened up. He side glanced and saw Sprite coming out with a red shirt and blue jeans on. Her hair was still slightly damp but for the most part straight.

"Hey," She said to him as she walked over to her bag next to the bed she slept in.

"Yo," Kai responded as he watched her pull out her deck and place it in her pocket. "So, did you see the mystery room guess?"

"Nope. Woke up and saw that the bed next to me had been used and was currently vancant."

"Late nighter and early starter," Kai said as he watched his comercials.

"Well, the shower is yours if you want it," Sprite said.

Kai shrugged and got up, walked over to his bag and picked out some clothes. He walked into the bathroom and began his shower. The hot water felt good running over his body. It seemed rather relaxing and quite enjoyable. He finished up a few minutes later, dried himself off, and walked out to see Sprite in the chair watching the tv.

"Who gave you permission to sit in my chair and watch my commercials?" Kai joked.

"I did," Sprite joked along. "So, you ready to go?"

"Almost," Kai said. He picked up his belt and snapped it on. He grabbed his coat and hat and put them on as well. "Now I'm ready," he said. They walked out of the room and wondered whether or not they should wake the others.

"They might already be up," Sprite said looking at the door."

"Maybe, I say we just go down and have quiet breakfast," Kai said. Sprite nodded so they walked down the hall and took the elevator to the lobby. They waited a few moments before the elevator opened up and they stepped out into the lobby. They were suprised at how full it was with other people.

"I guess we can skip out on the quiet breakfast," Sprite joked.

"At least there will be three less people," Kai said annoyed looking around. He shrugged and they walked across the lobby towards where the cafe was. They went through the buffet line and picked out whatever they wanted to eat. Sprite was having some cereal and milk and Kai had just picked out a bagel and cream cheese. They walked through the cafe and found a small table. They sat put their stuff down and Sprite sat on the chair while Kai went to go grab a mug, and some hot tea. He returned shortly and sat down across from her.

Kai brouht back Sprite a plastic spoon while he used a plastic knife to smear the creeme cheese on his bagel. He waited for his tea to cool down before he added a bit of Sprite's milk to it. They stayed quiet for a while and just stared at the other duelists that were out and about. Wondering what kind of decks they might have to face and wondering how they would beat them.

Sprite finally broke the silence, "Looks like there are more people starting to come out."

"You're right, it's getting louder and there are more people here now," Kai observed. He took another bite out of his bagel and stared at his tea. Thoughts of how his life used to be before he learned about the tournament flooded his minds. He couldn't get over Ricardo selling all his stuff, and the fact that all his friends had banned together to help him out. He stayed quiet for a little longer before he looked back up again.

He noticed Sprite looking around and couldn't help but think that there was something different about her. 'We've been friends for so long, and now she doesn't seem the same,' he thought to himself. "Hey Sprite?"

"Yeah?" Sprite said turning to him.

"I've just been wondering, you've been, well, I don't know how to say it. Acting different than usual I guess is how I want to put it."

"Have I?" she asked looking slightly confused. "Well, I guess I have been feeling a bit different lately. Sometimes, I feel just so full of joy, and other times, I feel, well, empty. As if there is something missing."

"I feel like that too sometimes. It's as if there is a part of you missing that you never knew you had, right?"

"Yeah, that's exactly how it feels," Sprite said wondering how Kai knew how she felt.

"Well..." said someone from behind Sprite. She gave a bit of a jump, and turned back to see Nine right behind her, "...maybe you need to get a boyfriend," he finished.

"I don't know about me," Sprite said, "But I know that you are going to need a doctor in about 5 seconds."

"What?" he asked sounding perfectly innocent. "Should I have made myself better known?""

"Making yourself better known would have allowed you to live longer," Sprite said irratible.

"Guess your not a morning person," Nine said as he tossed a can to Kai. Kai caught it while Nine pulled a nearby chair towards the table, spun it so that he could sit in it and sat down. He tossed a can from behind his back towards Sprite and she caught it.

"What are these for?" Kai asked, "and where are Domid and Hajime?"

"They're coming, they're just getting breakfast. As for the cans, well, oh here they are!" Nine said as Domid and Hajime came up to them. "Domid had some waffles stacked on his plate while Hajime was holding a bagel and creeme cheese."

"Great minds think alike," Kai said as Hajime sat down.

"Didn't really feel like anything else," Hajime said as he saw a can coming right at him. He brought up his hand and barely caught it before it hit him in the face.

"Fast reflexes," Nine said as he handed a the last can to Domid.

"Not going to through it at his face?" Hajime asked.

"I wouldn't want him getting hurt," Nine said grinning.

"The same could be said for how we feel about you," Sprite said, "And yet I see a trip to the doctors coming your way real fast."

"Chill out, you got free soda didn't you?" Nine said. "Anyway, this is a toast for good luck," he opened his can while the others all tilted their cans towards Nine and opened them. Nothing happened so they brought them back towards them. "You can't say that you thought I had shook them before giving them to you can you?"

"You've tried to find an excuse to die before," Sprite said with a hint of annoyance mixed with a little laughter.

"This is a toast, for the Sky Top Duelists," He said holding up his can in the middle.

The others looked at each other and sighed, "To the Sky Top Duelists," they said feeling it was kind of weird toasting themselves with the name they had come up with themselves.

They ate their breakfast and tried to figure out what they would do from there. "We could go catch another movie," Kai said. "That will basically bring us to around 11:00. From there we will only have to wait one hour or so until we disembark."

"I wanted to check out some of the shops," Sprite said. "I thought I saw a cool necklace on one of those commercials."

"Oh yes," Kai said sarcastically, "Let me pull five hundred dollars out of my pocket and I'll go buy you that necklace."

They all chuckled and then Hajime spoke up, "Looking through the shops isn't such a bad idea."

"Really?" Domid asked. "How come?"

"If not in the shops, then at least in one of the vendors there are bound to be some low priced packs for the tournament."

"Oh, yeah," Kai said looking down. "I guess we could go check out some shops."

"Alright, sounds like a plan," Nine said. With that they walked through the lobby and window shopped for a bit. "This shop looks promising," Nine said as he walked into it. Everyone but Kai followed. Something had caught his eye.

He looked a bit to the right, a little further down, and saw a man wearing one of the ship's crew outfits looking nervous near a closed vending stand. Kai walked over to the man to see what was wrong. As he approached the man he noticed that it seemed as though the man was looking for something. "Excuse me," he said to the man.

The man looked up, "I'm busy," he said hurriedly.

"I noticed, I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help you?"

The man looked up with a bit of hope on his face, "Yes, yes there is. I misplaced my keys and I need to hurry and find them or else my very job could be at stake."

"On no, I'll help you find them," Kai said instantly looking down at the ground trying to spot the keys."

"There are three of them, two are normal sized keys where as the last one is small. It opens a lock so that I can get into this vending stand."

Kai kept looking, he even went a bit further off but couldn't see anything. "I can't see them," he said.

"Oh man, I'm in for it. I've had bad luck since I started. My boss is supposed to come and check on me today to see how I'm doing. He's really angry because yesterday I locked the keys inside and he had the only other key to get in there."

"Do you think that maybe you locked it inside again?"

"No, because he got it out for me at the end of the day and gave it back to me. He told me one more screw up and I'm done." Kai looked down feeling bad for the poor guy when suddenly he perked up. "Do you think you might have just left it in your room?"

"It's a possibility. But I can't run back and get it."

"I'll do it for you. I'll be as quick as I can."

"I'm so going to get in trouble for this but I have no other choice. It's C-133," the man said tossing Kai his key card.

"I'll be back soon," Kai said running off.

"You need to go through the crew entrance in order to get there!" the man called off as Kai ran down the hall.

Kai ran until he found a door that said "Crew Members Only Beyond This Point," He slid the key through and the door clicked open for him. He looked around and then ran through the door. Luckily no one was in the hall. He looked at the closest door number and discovered it to be room number C-658. "Crap," Kai said as he ran down the hall as fast as he could. Once he reached C-625 there was another hallway and he almost went passed it when he noticed that it was a hallway with the numbers C-100 and up. He ran down the hall way until he reached C-133 on his left. He slid in the card and the door clicked. Suddenly he heard someone.

"HEY! Kid, what are you doing in here!"

Kai turned to see one of the crew members and ran into the room. "What the hell did I just do? I made myself look even more guilty." He caught his breath and looked through the room while the crew member was banging on the door. He looked around but couldn't see anything on the floor. He heard the door open and turned to see a man grab him by his arm.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"One of the crew members lost their keys, they asked me to run back here and get them for him or else he might get fired."

"Tall guy, brown hair, early30's?" They crew member asked.

"I guess he might be in his early 30's," Kai said.

"I know him, the poor fool is clumsy and kind of scatterbrained. He should have just came back himself."

"He seemed worried that he said that he would get in trouble if he did."

"Yeah, well he's lucky. I'm the one who got him this job. I told his boss to give him a shot and he was nice enough to do so but so far he's done nothing but screw up. Come on, let's find his keys." They looked around when Kai finally found them in between the dresser and bed. "Alright, I'll help you get out to the main hallway again. Tell the scatterbrained fool to be careful."

"I will, thank you," Kai said. The man helped Kai out into the hall where the guests stayed. Kai thanked him again and then ran back to the lobby. When he found the vendor he ran over to him and handed over his keys.

"Oh thank you, did you have any trouble?" The man asked as he took his keys back and opened up the vending stand.

"Not really, got caught but then explained what I was doing to the crew member that caught me." Kai watched as he opened the stand and noticed that it was a booster pack stand.

"You're here for the tournament aren't you?" The man asked and Kai nodded. "Take any booster you like for your trouble. My treat."

"Are you sure?' Kai asked.

"Yes, you deserve it," Kai picked out a Magicians Force pack and thanked the man again. As he was walking off to find his friends the man shouted out, "Do you remember who caught you?"

Kai shouted back, "I didn't get his name, but it was the guy who convinced your boss to give you this job, he told me to tell you to be careful." Kai then ran into the shop that he saw his friends went into earlier leaving the man confused.

"But…no one got me this job. I applied for it myself."

Inside the shop Kai looked around for his friends but couldn't see them. He found a small seat and decided to open it. He looked through it and then his jaw dropped, "Black Magician of Chaos," he said looking down at it. "I can tell, he is going to help me _a lot,_" he said to himself. He pulled out his deck and slid the card into it. He put the deck back and decided to go search for his friends.

Leaving the store and walking through the lobby, Kai tried to find his friends but failed at finding them. He decided that they might have gone back to the rooms so he we went back to his. He got there and entered the room but didn't find Sprite. Laying on the bed he figured that they would arrive sooner or later and let the days adventure flow through his mind."

Hajime, Domid, Sprite, and Nine were walking back to their rooms as people walked past them. "It's very possible that Kai could have gone back to the room because he didn't want to buy anything," Hajime said.

"Oh yeah," Sprite said. "He probably didn't want to have to owe us more."

A white haired kid snickered as he walked by, "If you have a duelist with you who owes you money, take his cards and call it even."

"That 'duelist' is our friend," Hajime said as he looked at the boy. He noted that the boy was wearing a blue sweatshirt, and tan cargo pants, much like Hajime.

"If he's holding you back then just let him go, he's not worth it," the boy said.

"Oh, and who made you the expert?" Sprite asked.

"I did," the kid hissed. "Listen up, I used to be friends with someone who always needed things, and I used to help him out. But trust me, once I asked for my payment back, he wouldn't deliver. I had to take back what he owed me by force and then move on."

"Just because you had a bad experience before, doesn't mean that everyone is like that," Hajime. "Some people actually play honorably, and will pay back what they owe."

"Hmph, it must be nice living in a fantasy world. Well when the competition starts, get ready to face the real world, and fear the name of Sarosu, for I will pound you into the dirt."

"I'm waiting for the part where I'm supposed to care," Hajime said.

"Heh, keep living in the fantasy world, I'll wake you up soon enough," and with that Sarosu walked off.

"Well, seems like you have a new rival," Sprite said to Hajime.

"Oh well," he said as he continued to walk down the hall. The others soon followed and when they got there Sprite used her Key Card to open the door. They walked in and noticed that Kai was asleep on bed that Sprite had slept on.

Sprite walked over to him and shook him lightly. Kai stirred and he opened his eyes. He let out a yelp and Sprite giggled. "How long have you been here?" he asked her.

"We just came in, we were looking for you because you disappeared."

"I had to help someone find their keys, and then I tried to find you in the store but you weren't there any longer so I came back to the room and decided to wait for you here."

"Well I was worried about you, I didn't know where you had gone."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

"Just don't do it again," Sprite said smiling.

Kai blushed a bit, "Ok," he said. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 10:45. "Well, I guess we only have about another hour to go before we have to get off, so what should we do?"

"There is really not much to do," Domid said.

Kai looked over and noticed the rest of the group standing near the doorway, Kai started to blush again, "Hey guys, been there long?"

"The whole thing," Nine said laughing.

"Yeah?" Kai asked getting back his normal color. "Then you can leave for the rest of it," he said and promptly threw a pillow at Nine. Nine took the pillow and then ran out the door.

"I guess we'll join up in our room," Hajime said walking out followed by Domid.

"This is going to turn out to be an interesting trip," Kai said.

"We really have to find some time to do something non-tournament related while we are here," Sprite said looking around the room.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can all find something interesting to do," Kai said getting off the bed.

"That's not exactly what I meant," Sprite said looking down.

Suddenly the door opened up and they looked up and say Kayose walk through the door. "Oh great," He said staring at Sprite.

"How the hell did you get in here?" Sprite asked.

"We have been sharing this room the entire time," he said nonchalantly. "You were just never around or asleep whenever I came in." He picked up his bag and walked back towards the door. "See ya in the contest newbs."

"I swear, I'm gonna…"

"Just let it go," Kai said. "We have to go into the other room anyway." They walked over to the others room and waited for them to answer the door. Domid opened it for them and they went inside.

"I can't believe we've been sharing a room with Kayose this entire time!" Sprite screamed. "I want to just go set those sheets on fire now!"

"Do that and you'll be more than just disqualified," Hajime said, not looking up from his deck.

"I'll show him whose the newb," Sprite said under her breath so that the others couldn't hear her.

"So, we have a little time left before we disembark," Kai said. "What should we do?"

"Practice dueling?" Domid asked?"

"I don't see why not," Sprite said. "I have some extra energy locked up so I'm ready to duel NOW!"

"Alright, I'll duel you," Domid said. The sat down on opposite sides of the bed and placed their decks down. Sprite began to draw her hand when suddenly an announcement came on over the intercoms.

"_Attention all participants in the Duel Monsters World Championship, due to the ship traveling with the current, we are going to arrive at the island ahead of schedule. Please gather your things and meet in the lobby to disembark. We thank you for joining us, please have a safe and fun time."_

"I guess we'll never figure out who would have won," Domid said.

"That's fine with me!" Sprite said. "The sooner we disembark, the sooner I can ram Kayose's face into the dirt!"

"If you do that, you'll be disqualified," Everyone said in unison.

"ALL RIGHT!" Sprite roared. "Let's just go disembark already!"

Kai and Sprite went back into their room and got their things ready. They met with the others and they walked out to the lobby. They walked out towards the top deck and looked out towards the island.

"It's, amazing," Kai said stunned.

"It looks like an entire city floating in the ocean." Nine said.

"Look at that dome on the hill, I think that's the Sky Top Duel Dome!" Kai said excited.

"And that's where we will be going," Sprite said. They all nodded and walked back down to the lobby. Unfortunately there was a long line with people already at the stairs. They got as close as they could to the steps and proceeded to wait from there. It took another 10 minutes before the doors were opened and people began to slowly exit the ship.

After another 5 minutes they finaly got off the boat and were being told by security guards to follow the yellow signs with the red arrows. They followed the signs looking all around at the different buildings. There were restaurants, shops, hotels, anything that you would find in a city. There were billboards with advertisements of the new set of Duel Monsters cards coming out, large TV's that seemed to be on standby, and lots of blinking lights.

The one thing amiss was the fact that there were very few people around. They could see people in the buildings but that was about it. They were walking taking in the sites for about 15 minutes until they got to a large stage set up in the middle of the street. All the competitors where getting as close as they could but where having no luck, there were too many people in the way.

Suddenly all the TV's came on and they could hear voices coming from the TV's. A man in his 40's with brown, receding hair, and a brown suit came on the TV screen, he was standing on the stage that was in the middle of the street. "Greetings competitors," The screens said in many different languages. "Welcome to the Duel Monsters 2005 World Championships!" Everyone started cheering and clapping as they watched the screen. Once the cheering died down the man continued again. "I know most of you are wondering why you were brought out to an Island to compete in a Duel Monsters Tournament, right?"

Everyone started yelling things out while others just stood there and waited for the answer. "Well, it's because you all get to test out actual Duel Disk systems." Everyone in the audience was shocked. "That's right, we have succeeded in creating working Duel Disks. The problem is that they are only connected to this island. So, we wanted you all to have the best tournament ever so we brought you here to use the Duel Disks. During the tournament our team of researchers will be monitoring the Duel Disks to see if there are any bugs to be worked out. If all goes well, then our team will begin production of satellites that will be launched into space so that everyone will be able to duel all the time."

The whole audience cheered and applauded while the man continued. "By the end of the tournament, we will let you know whether or not we were successful at the Duelist Breakfast after the last day of the tournament. If we were, then you will all be allowed to keep your duel disks and you will receive an e-mail from the Tournament Head Quarters when the Duel Satellites are in space. Now, I will continue on with the actual rules of the tournament. "All Tournament Duels will be taking place in one of the 4 Dueling Arena's located throughout the Island. There is the North and South West Dueling Arena's and the North and South East Dueling Arena's. Anyone not participating in a duel is allowed to watch the duels in the audience seats. Only the 8 finalists are allowed into the Sky Top Dueling Arena, everyone else that has already been eliminated are allowed into the Sky Top Dueling Arena Seats to watch the finalists battle it out, but that is a long time away."

"You all may duel anywhere on the island, in fact we highly recommend it because it will help us in testing the duel disks for bugs. The more duels the better for our research. Before each Tournament match the players may ante up their rarest cards and the winner will receive the losers card. Remember, you can ante up your cards if you _want _to, it is not a rule that you _have _too. Now, I know you are all wondering how you are going to make it to the Sky Top Dueling Arena. As I said before, each of the duels are going to be taken place inside of one of the four main dueling arenas. Everyone will be assigned to those separate dueling arenas. The two best players from each Dueling Arena will be admitted into the finals. Each Duelist will have to win 5 duels in the duel arenas before they can progress into Sky Top Dueling Arena."

Suddenly Kai became very nervous, "Guys, that means that if we all want to make it into the finals," he was shushed by someone standing next to him.

"Now I will explain how the Duel Disks work," the man explained as he held up a red disk. "As you can see you have what appears to be two seperate disks, one on top and one on bottom. The bottom disk is where the actual holo-graphic images come from. I remove that from the bottom and toss it into the middle of the field. The Disk activates while spinning and projects the image, think of it almost as one of those Yo-Yo's that continues to spin even though it is at the end of the rope, and the lights it emits while spinning. The top disk is the one that gets put onto your arm. Your deck goes there in the deck holster, and then the top half of the disk unfolds to reveal your monster slots. Your Spell and Trap cards are slid in the slot underneath the monster zones. Field Cards are placed inside of a slide slot that opens up whenever you activate one."

"In order to receive your Duel Disks you must go to the Regestration office and sign in. While there you will also receive directions to the hotel you will be staying at. Also, when you register for your duel disk you will randomly be assigned to one of the 4 dueling arenas. Inside each hotel room is the list of rules for participating along with cards that are either banned, or limited. Some Card Rules may be changed. You will find out which ones when you read the instructions. Operating instructions for the Duel Disks are inside of the box they come in. The tournament begins tomorrow, get a good night's sleep, and ready your decks. Good luck and good evening."

The TV screens changed to show directions on to how to get to the Registration Office and all of the duelists began to make their way over there. "Guys, do you realize what this means?" Kai asked.

"What do you mean?" Domid asked.

"If only the best two players from each Arena are allowed into the Finals, that means that there can't be more than two of us in a Dueling Arena, or else there will be no possible way for us to all get there."

"You're right!" Sprite gasped. "We could very well could be placed into the same arena."

"Calm down," Nine said. "Remember, it's a random selection, that means, that we do stand a chance of being put into different arenas."

"Remember though," Hajime started, "there are five of us, and only 4 arenas. The only possible way is to have two of us in two different arenas and the last of us to be put into one by our selves."

"I know we'll get through it," Domid said. "We have to!"

"Let's worry about getting to the Register Office first," Hajime said as everyone stopped walking and looked at the long line in front of a tall building that said 'Registration Office'. "We might be here for a while."

The group waited for half an hour before it was finally their turn. Kai walked up to the woman at the desk and she smiled at him, "Good afternoon, please swipe your card through and you will receive your Duel Disk." Kai looked at the small screen in front of him with a card slot. He swiped it through and the woman typed something into the computer while the letters NE appeared on the screen along with directions to a hotel. A small paper came out with the directions and letters. The woman reached for something under the desk and came up with a long white box.

"Here's your Duel Disk," She said smiling. "The letters represent what Dueling Arena you will be in, NE stands for North East. So that will be the Dueling Arena you report to for your duels. The directions tell you how to get to your hotel. If you have any problems with your duel disk please come back here to report it. Please step outside so that I may register the rest of the competitors and good luck."

Kai stepped out side and waited for the others to come out. The first member to come out was Hajime, "So, what duel arena where you assigned to?" Kai asked.

"The South East Dueling Arena," he said leaning against the wall. They waited for the next person to came out and it was Sarosu. "What are you doing here?" Hajime asked.

"There was more than one registration booth, if you had your eyes open you would have realized that," he said snottly. "See ya," he said as he walked off snickering.

"You know him?" Kai asked.

"Yes, but I wish I didn't," he said.

Just then Domid came out, "I'm in the South East Dueling Arena," he said as he looked at Hajime. "Guess you could say we're partners."

"I guess so," Hajime nodded. "So, we have two more coming out, if either of them are in South East, we will have a problem."

"Yeah," Kai said quietly. They waited for a minute or so when suddenly Kai was tackled in a hug by Sprite. "AH!" Kai yelped as he fell down on the ground. Sprite laughed and helped him up. "Why did you have to go and attack me dirrectly like that?" Kai asked catching his breath."

"I'm North East, that means we duel together," Sprite said smiling.

"That just leaves Nine," Domid said looking back into the building. They waited for a few more minutes not saying anything. Nine walked out and Domid was the first to ask, "Well, how did it go?"

"I'm in the South West Dueling Arena," Nine said as everyone let out a small breath of relief. "Looks like we got past that disaster." They all decided that it was safe to go head over to the hotel. They followed Hajime's directions and they came to an intersection. "Blue Eyes Street and Red Eyes Street," Nine said musing at the names of the streets.

"Guess they knew I was coming," Hajime said chuckling. "It says we have to take Red Eyes Street." He started walking down the street and the others followed. They found their hotel, it was a tall red building with a large parking lot.

They walked in and saw a few people checking in. They stood in line and 8 minutes later it was their turn. Hajime gave the man at the desk his card and the man swiped it through. "Alright, you key card is now activated for our hotel rooms," he said. "You're room number is number 600 on the top floor." Hajime thanked the man and waited for the others. Kai was the next to have his card swiped through. "Oh, I'm sorry," the man at the desk said, "but this isn't your hotel."

"What!" Everyone said in shock.

"It's a shame they made all these cards look the same, but this isn't your hotel. You're hotel is over on Kuriboh Street."

"But, our rooms on the boat were right next to each other," Kai said confused. "I thought we would be in the same hotel."

"The boat rooms and Hotel Rooms aren't always the same," the man said. "You're Friends card said 600 for his room number. Each hotel has 600 rooms, and there will be three people to each room. You're card has the number 001, to show that you are in room one of another hotel. Kuriboh street isn't too far from here. If you take Blue Eyes Street and walk down for about a block, you will see the begining of Kuriboh Street. You're hotel will be over there. If you would like I can check the other cards of your friends to see if they have the same problems."

The man checked the cards and the only other person to have a different Hotel was Domid, and as it turned out Domid was rooming with Kai. "So I guess we'll be seperated for a while," Kai said looking back at the group.

"This might make things a bit difficult," Hajime said.

"We'll be fine," Domid said. "We can still call between the hotels to see how everyone is progressing in the tournament, and we can probably find a place to meet up later on."

"Sounds like a plan," Nine said. "Good luck you guys."

"Same to you," Kai said nodding as him and Domid walked out of the hotel. "So we hit a speed bump, at least we are all ok when it comes to where we are dueling. This is only something minor."

"True, the major thing was being placed in different arenas," Domid said. They walked back up Red Eyes Street and saw a purple haired girl wearing a light blue shirt, and black jeans looking confused staring at the signs. "Can we help you?" Domid asked.

"My hotel is on Kuriboh Street but I can't find it," she said.

"Well then you don't need to keep searching," Kai said, "We were just heading there now. We have to take Blue Eyes Street and then walk down a block and Kuriboh Street will be there."

"Wow, thanks," she said. They began walking Blue Eyes Street and they introduced them selves. "I'm Kalesa," the girl said. "Who are you two?"

"This is my best bud Domid, and I'm Kai," he said.

"Nice to meet you both, thanks again for helping me."

"It's no problem, like I said before, we were heading there anyway." The walked down Blue Eyes Street getting to know each other and then they came upon Kuriboh Street. They took it and not long after they saw the hotel. "Here we are," Kai said.

The three walked in and got registered. As it turned out Kalesa had the same room as Domid and Kai. "They walked into their room and unloaded their things. "Oh it's so good to put that stuff down," Kalesa said. "I've had those things with me the whole trip, not letting them leave my sight once."

"How come?" Domid asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to just leave it in your room?"

"I came alone, and I didn't know what kind of people could be in my room. I didn't want my things stolen so I kept them with me."

"I can understand that," Kai said. "Well if you want, you're more than welcome to hang out with Domid and me during the tournament. We have a group of friends with us in another hotel and I'm sure they would like you very much."

"Thanks," she said smiling. "So, what dueling fields are you guys in?"

"I'm in the South East Dueling Arena," Domid said.

"And I'm in the North East Dueling Arena," Kai said.

"Well, then I guess you and I might have to face each other," Kalesa said. "I'm North East as well."

"Well if we do have to face each other I'm sure it will be an excellent duel and I'll happily except it."

"Same here," she said. "So, the tournament doesn't really start until tomorrow, what do you say we do until then?"

"I'm not sure," Kai said. "There really isn't much to do until the tournament starts."

"If I'm not mistaken," Domid began, "don't they have some kind of hotel activities during the night?"

"Do they?" Kai asked interested.

"Yeah, they have things like swiming competitions, tennis matches, dances, things like that," Domid explained

'Dance's?' Kai thought in his mind.

"Unfortunatly none of that starts until 8:30 at night," Kalesa said.

"That still leaves us with nothing to do now," Kai said. "It's not as if we can just go to sleep and wait for tomorrow to come."

"I'm actually pretty tired from the boat ride and the lines," Domid said.

"I am too, I think I might have gotten sea sick," Kalesa said.

"Ouch," Kai said. "I've never gotten sea sick myself, but I know someone who has. Well, I guess we could lay down for a while." Kai noticed that there were three beds in the hotel room and that it was larger than the rooms on the boat. Laying down in one of them Kai felt really happy because the bed was nice and soft. He pulled the covers over his shoulder and fell into a deep sleep.

A telephone ringing brought Kai out of his sleep, he turned over and picked up the phone, "mn...hel...hello?" he asked tiredly.

"Sounds like you just woke up," Sprite's voice said over the phone.

"What time is it?" Kai said standing up in the bed.

"About 5:00, we were wondering if you two wanted to do anything before the night was over."

"Um, I don't know. What were you guys thinking?"

"Dinner was what we were thinking."

"I don't see why not. Let me see if Domid wants to," Kai looked around but Domid and Kalesa weren't in the room. "Domid isn't in here. I wonder where he went."

"Beats me," Sprite said. "So, I guess since you don't know where he is we would be minus one member."

"I was actually thinking I'd hang here for a while in all honesty," Kai said. "I want to check out the hotel, maybe do a bit of swiming."

"Alright, we understand. We're going to go see if there are any decent resteraunts on this Island. I guess you and I will meet up tomorrow then."

"Yeah," Kai said. "See you then," Kai hung up the phone and stretched out. He grabbed his Card Key and his backpack and left the room. He got directions from one of the other duelists to the directions to the pool. Once he got there he went into the bathroom and changed. He dived into the pool and just floated for a while. He did some laps and then went into one of the Jacuzzi's next to the pool. He stayed in there for 10 minutes and then went back in to change.

He got out and looked at the clock on the wall before leaving the pool area. "Its 6:00 now, I guess I could grab something to eat and then hit the arcade." Kai went and had a light dinner and then went over to the arcade. He hung out there and played the games for about 2 hours and then went back to the room. When he got there he saw Domid and Kalesa sitting on one of the beds talking. "Where were you two?" he asked them when he got there.

"We where haning around seeing the sights," Kalesa said. "We didn't want to wake you. Where were you?"

"I went swiming and then hung out at the arcade."

"Cool, well, I'm tired," Domid said. "I'm heading to bed."

"Same here," Kai said while Kalesa nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning for the actual tournament."

"Yup," Domid said.

"Good night," Kalesa said. Everyone laid down on their beds and mentally preped themselves for the tournament before they fell asleep.

* * *

Sdrive: Well, this got harder to write due to the fact that I was running out of ways to end it. But, its ended now. Ok, next chapter, the very first duel of the tournament! Yay! Sorry for the long wait everyone. And now, it's response time. 

Mina: RUN MINA RUN! -Watches bus drive past Mina- NO! lol, just joking. Thank you Mina, but I can understand what Reaver is saying, he wants action and stuff, I can't blame him for that.

Reaver: Like I said to Mina, I can under stand why you are getting a bit bored, but this is the last chapter before lots of holograms die lol. Poor Bakura, oh well.

Axel: Well, you may like to see Kayose get nailed, but unfortunatly you will have to wati for a LONG time before that happens. Hope you stick around that long.

Zenryo: Actually that line sorta came from Yugi and Strings Duel except slightly altered. Happy? You have now been annoyed. I planned on making you annoyed anyway, but I just wanted to wait till this chapter. Blue Eyes, already explained, not going to go into that with you, um...thanks for the compliment about what you would have said yadda yadda. More free stuff YAY, and I know that both you and David are going to nail me on it so I'm going to say it now, I don't care if Dark Magician of Chaos doesn't actually come from Magician's Force, I think it should have been in there. And besides, I needed something for him to get. So THERE! Cute Aliens!

Peace Writer: Congrats for you, do you want a cookie -starts to hand him a cookie but eats it. After done eating- too bad lol. No, j/k. Yes, you were the first reviewer, so now you get a prize -throws you a plush toy of Tea- something I know you've always wanted hehehe. Anyway, yes I know about grammer and spelling, and NOT CARING! lol. Yes, Tension is good. Well thats about it.

Sdrive: Ok, people, so far I've pumped a new chapter out every week. That might get a bit harder now due to having to write duels, and if that wasn't hard enough, I also have to do ALOT better in school. Which means I won't have a lot of time on my hands for a while. I'll do what I can tonight, but chances of me having something out for this story by next week are slim to none. Next chapter, the duels finally begin, with Kai and Sprite setting off the North East Dueling Arena, who could Kai's first opponent be? Stay tuned. Also, starting at the begining of the next chapter I'll throw in a little suprise for you all. So be happy and wait for that suprise. Until next time.

Power to the Hikari's


	5. The First Duel

Sdrive: And welcome all. I hope you didn't think I forgot about that surprise I promised you all. From now on, every five chapters will have a Card Listed, what it does, and how it is important to the person who uses it. So, now the Duel Monster card of the day.

**CARD OF THE CHAPTER:**

_Black Magician Girl_: 6 Star's, Dark Type, Spell-caster. 2000 ATK and 1700 DEF. Increase the ATK of this monster by 300 points for each "Black Magician" or "Magician of Black Chaos" in either player's Graveyard. This is a card used by Kai, it was given to him by his dieing mother along with the Black Magician. Since then, the Black Magician and Black Magician Girl have been his favorite cards.

Sdrive: And there ya go, the first card to be explained. Look forward to Chapter 10 when I put out the next card with data about the Character who uses it. Alright, and now, I begin the chapter.

Disclaimer: I just don't own Yugioh, but the Duel Disk Idea is mostly mine, other that the bottom half which I kinda borrowed from the original DD1.

* * *

Kai slowly opened his eyes and looked around to see what time it was. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:30. He slowly got out of his bed and saw that Domid and Kalesa were still asleep. Suddenly the phone started ringing, and Kai went over to pick it up. "Hello?" He said. 

There was a short pause and then a machine clicked on, "Good Morning Duelists, this is your 1 hour warning, please be at your designated dueling Arena within the next hour, good luck."

The machine shut off and Kai put the phone back on the hook. He then walked over to Domid and Kalesa and woke them up. "Hey you two, time to get up, we only have an hour before we have to be at the duel arenas."

"Only an hour!" Kalesa said surprised. "That means we have to get dressed now!" she said. She ran into the bathroom and came out 5 minutes later completely dressed. Domid was the next person to get dressed and then Kai. Kai walked out and grabbed his deck box and belt. He put it on his belt and then put his deck box on his belt. He grabbed his coat and slid that on, and then found his hat and put that on. He got his Duel Disk and slid it on his left arm.

"Let's go," he said. They ran down the steps and into the small restaurant inside of the hotel. They all grabbed a quick breakfast and then ran out of the hotel. They got to the intersection of Red Eyes Street and Blue Eyes Street and saw the others walking. "Hey guys!" he said yelling out to them.

"Hey Kai," Sprite said waving. Once they caught up to them Sprite high-fived Kai, "Ready for our duels?" She asked him.

"You bet," he said. "Oh, guys, this is Kalesa, Kalesa, this is Sprite, Hajime, and Nine."

"It's nice to meet you," Kalesa said shaking Sprite's hand.

"Nice to meet you too," Sprite said. "So, let me guess, you are in the North East Arena huh?."

"Yup," Kalesa said. "Maybe we might end up dueling," Kalesa said.

"Maybe," Sprite said. "Well, we better head off, we'll see you guys later."

With that Kai and Sprite ran off with Kalesa to try to get to the North East Arena. They had to run past a lot of other people who were in their way, "Sorry, coming through," they said as they ran through the crowds. When they reached the arena they were practically out of breath. "Glad...we...made it," Kai said nearly collapsing.

Once they regained their composure they walked into the building doors and noticed all the duelists gathered around. They waited for a while before someone came out from a door that had said 'Staff Only'.

"Greetings duelists, when you walk out into the arena that will begin the tournament. A few things before you begin. The screen behind me will be where you see who your opponent is, and which section the arena you go to begin your duel. Remember that anteing up your rarest card is not required. If you have any questions on rulings, you may confer with a judge and they will answer the question for you. You have each been chosen to duel one another as randomly as which arena you were to be dueling in. There are small PCs where you may make your own tournament e-mail address. With it you may e-mail other members of the tournament and check tournament status. We request that each of you make a name for yourselves for that is where we will send our e-mail when we activate the Duel Disks. Also you can use that name to access information on any player if you know their screen name and if they post it. You may choose to do this at anytime before or after your duel."

"Your duels will begin in 5 minutes. You may look at the board to see who you will be dueling first. Good luck and remember, you must be one of the two best duelists in order to qualify for the finals."

There was a lot of cheering, Kai and Sprite nodded at each other thinking the same thing, "We have to be the two."

Sprite walked over to the board while Kai walked over to the Computers. "Where are you going Kai?" Sprite asked.

"I don't know any of the people up there, and I don't know their deck strategy so I might as well not waste my time." Sprite shrugged and continued to walk over to the screen. Kai walked over to a computer and clicked on the mail Icon. A box appeared with the option to sign in or create a new account. He clicked create a new account and it brought up with box to type in his screen-name. He thought for a few seconds and then started typing away at the keys. He looked down at what he had typed "M4GICI4NM45TER." He smiled and then typed in a password. He typed it in a second time as instructed and hit "Create." The mailbox opened up and he saw that he had one new mail.

Confused he opened the mail box and looked at it, once he realized that it was a Welcoming message he closed out of it and signed out. "Attention all duelists, please report to the dueling arena for the first duel of the World Championship 2005 Duel Monsters Tournament" Kai looked up at his screen and saw that he was dueling in field 6. He walked out to the dueling arena and was surprised to see a bunch of people in the stands cheering.

Sprite came behind him, "They must be here to watch the duelists, they are probably staying at different hotels."

Kai nodded, "I guess it wouldn't be a World Championship Tournament if they didn't have people watching it. So, which arena are you in?"

"25, dead end," Sprite said gloomy."

"Well, good luck," he said giving her a small high five.

Running off she called back "You too."

Kai mentally prepped himself up and walked toward field 6. There he saw his opponent, a kid about his age with spiky green and blue hair. He was wearing all black clothes and had a small earring in his ear. "So, you're my opponent?" he asked.

Kai nervously answered, "Yeah, I'm him."

"Heh, don't be scared, I won't bite you, I'll leave that to my little friends," he said staring at his deck.

"We'll see about that," Kai said slipping out of his coat and wrapping it across his waist.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" A large booming voice cried out. 'Welcome to the World Championship 2005 Duel Monsters Tournament. Here we have the best duelists around the world all competing on one island. But here, in this very dueling arena, we have the favorite out of all of you, the winner of the World Championship 2004 Duel Monsters Tournament, "

From both sides of the stadium Kai and Sprite gasped, they had to really step up their games if they wanted to get past him. "I'm sure there will be more favorites as they competition goes on, but for now, lets get the first round started. Duelists, you may begin dueling at anytime!"

"Hey," Kai's opponent called out to him. "Good luck."

"Yeah you too," Kai called back. Kai detached the bottom disk at the same time that his opponent did. "Not for nothing, but what's your name?"

"Konaijin, the Insect Lover," he called back.

"Well, I'm Kai, good luck." Kai threw his disk across the stadium and it started spinning where it landed and erupted a burst of multi-colored light. All across the arena bursts of multi-colored light were coming out and then fading down to just a stream of light spinning around the base of the disk. The top half of Kai's disk on his arm unfolded out and then unfolded from the sides to create the monster slots. Kai pulled his deck from his deck box and inserted it into the disk. The monster slots lighted up and the life points rose to 8000.

There was a judge on the side of the arena and raised his hand "Konaijin will begin!" he called out.

Konaijin nodded and looked at Kai. "This is it," Kai said to himself. "LETS DUEL" they both cried out as Konaijin pulled his 6th card. "I sure hope you can handle my first monster, Insect Knight!" Konaijin placed the card on the field and suddenly it exploded in a brilliant flash of light as a large Insect clad in battle armor appeared on the field looking nastily at Kai. Its stats appeared (1900/1500). "Whoa, he's cool in 3D. I'll also set two cards under the table and end my turn."

"It's my turn," Kai cried out, he looked down at his hand, 'I don't have anything to beat it, but I can match it,' Kai thought. He pulled a card from his hand and placed it on the middle slot, "I summon Skilled Black Magician!" Kai called out. Suddenly his card appeared and a mage dressed all in black appeared with a long silver staff in his hand. (1900/1700) "My Skilled Black Magician matches in strength with you monster. I too will set two cards under the table and end my turn."

"Well, one could say you are matching me move for move," Konaijin said drawing his card. "But too bad it won't matter when I activate the field card Gaia Power!" He placed the card inside of the field card slot and suddenly a large tree appeared on the field and it started exerting a bunch of energy. "This will increase all my Earth Type Monsters by 500 points."

Kai watched as the Insect Knight grew and its stats changed (2400/1100). Suddenly Kai's Skilled Black Magician began to glow a bit. "Thank you, by activating a Spell Card you have given my Skilled Black Magician a Spell Counter. Activate two more and you will get quite a surprise."

"It won't matter because your Skilled Black Magician won't be around long enough to get those counters! Now, Insect Knight, go, destroy his monster!"

"Guess again," Kai said clicking a button on his Duel Disk. "I stop your attack with my Trap Card, Shadow Spell!" The card flipped up and black chains sprang from the picture and bound the Insect Knight. "Now your insect loses 700 attack points along with the added bonus of not being able to attack."

"Hmm, very impressive," Konaijin said smiling. "I'll activate my face down Insect Barrier during my second main phase." Konaijin said. "This will stop all insect monsters on your side of the field from attacking me. I then set one monster on guard and end my turn,"

"Hate to break it to you but I don't use insects in my deck, and now thanks to your wasted Insect Barrier, my Skilled Black Magician gains another Spell Counter" Kai said smiling. "Now it's my turn." He drew his card and looked down at his Skilled White Magician. "Now I summon Skilled White Magician," Kai said placing the card down. A mage in white robes appeared also holding on to a long silver staff. "This makes two of my Skilled Mages, and now they are going to devastate your life points, go Skilled Black Magician, attack his Insect Knight!"

The Black Mage started gathering energy into its staff when Konaijin called out, "I'll activate the Trap Card DNA Surgery!"

"What does that do?" Kai asked as the card flipped up.

"This very special card turns all monsters into the same type. I think that you will be happy to know that I have decided to turn your two Spell-casters into glorious insects!"

"But that means!"

"That's right, now that your monsters are all insects you can't protect them from my Insect Barrier!"

The Skilled Black Magician and Skilled White Magician both grew antennas and spines. The energy was released from Skilled Black's staff but the Insect Barrier appeared blocking the attack. Kai growled, "I'll end my turn."

"Excellent," Konaijin said smiling. He pulled a card from his deck and started laughing. My next card is awesome, it will devastate you." Kai waited for him to continue so he did, "Meet the star of this show, the mighty Insect Princess!" he cried out as he sacrificed the Insect Knight and the placed the Insect Princess on the disk. The Insect Knight disappeared and a green insect-like girl with beautiful multi-color wings, antennas, and green skin appeared on the field. (1900/1200) "As long as this card is on the field you have to keep all your face up insects in attack mode. Also, whenever my Insect Princess destroys your insect monsters, she gains 500 extra attack points. So now, Insect Princess, destroy his Skilled White Magician!"

The Insect Princess went over and slashed the Skilled White Magician across the chest watching as it was destroyed. Kai's life points dropped and the Insect Princess grew to a 2400. Kai:7800/Konaijin:8000. Kai growled and drew his card. 'This could be helpful' Kai said looking down at a card with a stone on it. "I sacrifice my Skilled Black Magician and summon my Chaos Command Magician!" Kai called out as the Black Mage disappeared and a Magician in green robes appeared with a long staff in its hand with a red jewel embedded into the staff. (2400/1900) Suddenly antennas and wings sprouted out of the Magician. "Even if I can't attack, my Chaos Command Magician won't be defeated by your Insect Princess." Kai said smiling. "I'll also set one card under the table and end my turn."

"Hate to say it but your friend won't be lasting too long against my Insect Princess. "I lay one monster on guard and then I reverse summon the Man Eater Bug! My bug will devour your Magician so its time to part ways with your one defense!"

The bug ran towards the Chaos Command Mage and leapt up to eat it when suddenly it ran right into a small red barrier. Kai smirked, "I guess you didn't know about my Chaos Command Magician's special ability. It can't be affected by Monster Effects that directly target it."

"Very wise," Konaijin said, "But it still won't stop me, I will suicide my Insect Princess with your Chaos Command Magician!" he cried out as the Insect went to do battle with the Magician. Suddenly a pair of cylinders appeared in front of it. "What's going on?"

"I activated my Trap Card Magic Cylinder to protect my Magician," Kai explained. "Plus, due to its effect you now take the total of your Insect Princess' attack power."

The Insect Princess ran into one of the Cylinders and then came out the other and slashed Konaijin across the chest. Kai:7800/Konaijin:5600. "You'll pay for that," Konaijin said. "No turns my precious insects against me."

"And no one turns my Magicians into insects," Kai said as he drew his card. "I have nothing else to do so I will pass."

"Excellent, and now I will begin more of your downfall, I sacrifice my Man Eater Bug and my face down monster in order to summon my Insect Queen!"

"What is that?" Kai asked as a gigantic insect appeared out of the card. It was easily the largest monster in the arena at the moment and everyone gasped when they saw the gigantic insect appear. (2200/2400)

"This is my Insect Queen and prepare to meet the end," he said laughing. "My Insect Queen gains an additional two hundred attack points for every insect on the field. I count 3 so my Insect Queen gains 600 extra attack points." The large insect started to grow larger than it already was. The tree that had been in the middle of the field since the beginning started glowing and the Insect Queen started growing even more.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kai said looking at the large tree.

"Nope, Insect Queen is also an Earth Type so my Gaia Power gives it an extra 500 attack points, giving it altogether an extra 1100 attack points (3300/2000). Unfortunately for me I have to sacrifice a monster if I want to attack with my Insect Queen, but when I do I gain an Insect Monster Token which will be placed on the field in attack mode after the Queen Destroys one of you monsters."

"But in order to attack my Chaos Command Magician you will have to sacrifice your Insect Princess," Kai said seeing a bright side to his situation.

"That _would _have been the case," Konaijin said smiling, "if it wasn't for my Premature Burial card! This allows me to pay 800 life points to special summon a monster from my graveyard." Konaijin slid the card into the Spell/Trap spot and his Insect Knight re-appeared. "Now my Insect Knight, sacrifice your self to your queen!" The Insect Queen began to eat the Insect Knight, it then let out a blast of energy that demolished the Chaos Command Magician. "And now I attack you with my Insect Princess!" The Insect Princess went up and slashed Kai across the stomach and he fell backwards.

Kai:4500/Konaijin:4800. Kai growled and looked at up at the Insect Queen and Insect Princess, "I'm way in over my head here," he said to himself. "I'm not experienced enough to win."

"I'll end my turn and that means that my Insect Queen gives me an Insect Monster Token, and since that is out my Insect Queen is even harder to defeat, (3300/2000)"

Kai slowly stood up and looked at his deck. "I don't know if I'll be able to win," Kai said to himself. "He looked at his deck and pulled a card from it. "My Black Magician Girl," he said looking at her. "If only I could use you right now. I'll set a card on guard and end my turn."

Konaijin drew his card, I feel really bad for you. You won't have much of a defense set up once this is over. Insect Princess, attack his monster!" The Insect Princess went over and slashed a White Magician Pikeru and it blew up. "Go my Insect Queen, devour the Insect Monster Token and attack his life points!" The Insect Queen took the token and then used its energy to fire at Kai, Kai fell down to the ground as his life points lowered. "That ends my turn, my Insect Queen produces another Insect Token bringing it back to 3300, and my Insect Princess gains another 500 attack points for destroying your monster when it was turned into an insect." (2900/1200)

"This is it, I don't think I have anything in my deck that can save me now," Kai said as he looked at his life points screen Kai:1500/4800. "This is the end of the line for me," Kai said looking down, suddenly he thought about his friends and all they had done for him. He had to win, so that he wouldn't let them down. He slowly stood up and pulled the card from his deck. "I activate Pot of Greed, this allows me to draw two new cards," Kai said.

"Well, I wish you luck in getting the card you need," Konaijin said.

Kai drew his first and then his second, he looked at them and thought about what he could do. Suddenly he smiled, "My cards have served me well. I remove my Skilled White Magician and my Skilled Black Magician from my graveyard from play, in order to special summon my Chaos Sorcerer!" Kai cried as a man with black flowing robes appeared on the field. Suddenly he began to grow antennas and the Insect Queen began to grow a bit.

"Your have brought on your defeat, my Insect Queen is now a 3500 and you still can't attack."

"I'm not using him to attack, my Chaos Sorcerer has the ability to remove one monster on the field from play once a turn."

Konaijin was shocked, "That means that my Insect Queen will now be removed from the game!"

"I have something better in mind," Kai called out, "Now Chaos Sorcerer, Remove the Insect Princess!"

People in the stadium watching their duel gasped as they watched the Chaos Sorcerer chant a spell. The sorcerer raised its hands and magic flew from them, an orb was created around the Insect Princess and she was removed along with the orb. "But my Insect Queen was the strongest card in play! What are you scheming? You can't use his effect again so it doesn't make any sense to remover my Insect Princess."

"You forget that now your Insect Queen loses 200 attack points now that the Insect Princess is gone," Kai said watching as the Insect Queen shrunk slightly (3300/2000)

"Maybe, but it is _still _the most powerful creature in play."

"Not for long!" Kai cried out, "Now that my Chaos Sorcerer is has done his job, I will now sacrifice him for my Black Magician Girl!" Kai placed the card down and the Black Magician Girl came out smiling. (2000/1700)

"That card is even weaker than your first, you would have been better off with the Sorcerer," Konaijin said.

"No, because I needed the Black Magician Girl out on the field or else I couldn't activate my next card, the Spell Card Sages Stone!" The card appeared on the field and started letting out a bunch of energy. "In order to play this card, my Black Magician Girl had to be on the field, and now that she is, I can automatically summon the Black Magician from either my hand or deck!" Kai pulled out his deck and searched until he found the card. He placed it on the field and the Black Magician came forth with his staff in his hand. "My two favorite cards," Kai said looking at them. Suddenly they sprouted antennas and wings and Kai growled.

"Hehehe, and now thanks to you, my Insect Queen gains an extra 400 attack points, 200 from the Black Magician Girl and the other 200 from the Black Magician. (3500/2000)

"For turning my cards into insects I will make sure that your Insect Queen falls this turn," Kai said narrowing his eyes at Konaijin. "And I'll do it with the card I've had in my hand the whole duel! I activate Black Magic Attack!"

"What does that do?" Konaijin asked worriedly.

"As long as my Black Magician is on the field, Black Magic Attack will wipe out all Spell and Trap cards on your side of the field!" The Black Magician rose its staff and energy assimilated around it. He let out the blast and the Insect Barrier was destroyed along with the giant tree in the middle of the field and the DNASurgery card. The Black Magician and Black Magician Girl returned to normal and stared at the Insect Queen menacingly.

"Because your monsters are no longer insects my Insect Queen loses the 400 points it had inherited from them," Konaijin said. (3100/2400)

"My Magicians are more than mere monsters," Kai said crossing his arms. "Also because your Gaia power is gone your Insect Queen loses even more attack points," Kai said as he watched the Insect Queen Shrink. (2600/2400).

"It's still the strongest monster on the field," Konaijin said.

"Not once I use my Black Magician Girl to destroy your Insect Token!" Kai said. Konaijin gasped and then Kai called out the attack, "Black Magician Girl, attack his Insect Token!" The Black Magician Girl let out her attack and blasted the Insect Token away. "Because your Insect Monster Token was summoned last turn, it had to come out in attack, and once I attacked it, you lost 1900 Life Points, and your Insect Queen's attack power lowers." Kai watched the Insect Queen shrink a bit and turn into a 2400/2400. "Now, your monster is low enough for my Black Magician, go, Black Magician, attack his Insect Queen with your Black Magic Attack!" The Black Magician let out its energy and the Insect Queen blew into thousands of pieces. Everyone who was watching their duel gasped and then started cheering for Kai.

"My Insect Queen," Konaijin said as his life points fell Kai:1500/Konaijin:2800.

"Although your Insect Queen was the strongest monster on the field," Kai began, "had I destroyed it I would have still had to deal with your Insect Princess. So instead I removed it from play. By taking out everything that was giving your Insect Queen her strength, I could lower its strength so that my Black Magician could finally take it out. That ends my turn," Kai said smiling.

"Even with my Insect Queen gone, I can still defeat you, my turn!" He drew his card and placed it on guard. "I end my turn."

"Here is where it ends!" Kai said drawing his card. "I summon another Skilled White Magician. Now, Skilled White Magician, attack his monster!" The Skilled White Magician easily destroyed the monster. "Now, Black Magician and Black Magician Girl, Double Black Magic Attack!" The two mages crossed their staffs, green and pink energy started swirling around the staffs, they pointed them at Konaijin and the power was released. The energy hit Konaijin knocking him down to the ground depleting his Life Points. Kai:1500/Konaijin:0

The Holo-Disks stopped spinning and the images started to disappear, before they did though the Black Magician and Black Magician Girl looked over at Kai and nodded. Kai put his cards back together and placed them back into his Deck Box. He deactivated the Duel Disk and picked up his Holo-Disk and reattached it. He walked over to Konaijin and helped him up.

"That was intense dude," Konaijin said. "You really fought like a trouper, I'll be sure to root for you in your next duel."

"Thanks man," Kai said shaking his hand. People started cheering and Kai looked on happily, he was glad he won his first duel, but he knew that there would be harder ones coming up. "Hmm, I should go see how Sprite is doing," he thought to himself, and with that he ran off down the arena.

* * *

Sdrive: And there we go, wow, I actually met my week deadline, I'm surprised. True it was a short chapter, but I'm not big on Insects, although writing that duel did give me a _bit _more respect for the Insect Type of Duel Monsters, however it was hard as hell since I kept forgetting to reduce the 200 attack points from Insect Queen when it destroyed the Chaos Command Magician. It was hard but I finally got it. Oh, for those of you who have read my story the Masters Tournament, the top half of the top disk will look familiar to you, how it folded out. Well, I guess its review time. 

Axel: Well, here's the first duel. Who knows, maybe they will have a rumble, oh wait, I know lol. But if you want to I guess you'll just have to stay tuned and find out.

Reaver of Heaven: Poor Bakura, Oh well!

Bakura: What do you mean oh well? Get me the hell out of here!

Sdrive: -Ignoring Bakura- anyway, well, you didn't see any of the rivals get their faces rammed in, and you won't for a while, but be patient, oh dueling one lol.

Zenryo: My mistake, they were still on the moon, oh well. I know I have said this to you in school, but I'm going to ask it for the people who are too afraid to ask, how do you know that the stuff you shit out tastes better than Cream Cheese? Oh well, you are who you are and you do what…I'm just going to stop now.

Peace Writer: I did my best to get rid of the Grammatical errors, just for you, actually, just so you would SHUT THE HELL UP lol. Well, I know that you won't be able to review for this for a while so you are going to lose your first reviewer status, oh well, that's your own fault. Universal eh? Funny, didn't once cross my mind. I'm not going to answer the other crew member question. I'll run a raffle to see if I'm the only one who understands it.

Sdrive: ATTENTION, FOR MY AMUSEMENT AND FOR THE PURE PLEASURE OF MAKING PEACE WRITER FEEL STUPID, which are kind of the same thing, I AM THROWING A SMALL END OF CHAPTER QUIZ. CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHO THE CREW MEMBER THAT HELPED KAI FIND KEYS IS? If you can figure it out I'll throw you a plushy. Well, other than that not much else to report. Congrats for me for throwing this chapter together in the week update schedule despite my thoughts of not being able too. Next Chapter, Sprite faces off.

Power to the Hikari's


	6. The Amazing Token Deck

Sdrive: Well I think you will all be happy to know that I have finally found the list and so now I can finally get back to work on Sky Top Duelists. –audience cheers- Well, without any further a due, Sky Top Duelists.

Disclaimer: I own Sprite and Kai, that's it.

* * *

Sprite was running down to get to her arena, all the way at the other end of the building. Her red hair flowed behind her as she ran as fast as she could. Her small coat that she had over her shoulder suddenly fell off and her deck fell out of her pocket. Her cards fell all over and she bent down and tried to pick them up as fast as she could. She saw a card still laying on the ground, she went to pick it up when another hand grabbed it first. She looked up and saw a kind faced boy with short blue hair and hazel eyes look into her green eyes.

"I believe you dropped this," the boy said handing her a Raging Flame Sprite.

"Yes, thank you," she said taking her card. She did a quick eye sweep and when she was sure that she didn't see any other cards she got up and put her coat back on. "Thank you again, I was rushing to get to my duel when my jacket slipped off me."

"Yeah I noticed," he said laughing. "Sprite right?" The boy asked.

"How did you know my name?" Sprite asked shocked.

"I never forget a pretty face," he said with a wink. "Or the name of my opponent."

"What do you mean, the name of my…wait, now I recognize you. You're the guy whose face I saw when I was looking to see who I would be facing. So that must mean that you are Fuda."

"Yes, and it is so interesting what my name translates into, for that is the type of deck I use. I know that your nickname is based off the card I just handed you, well, at least that's what I think."

"Yes it is," Sprite said. "Well, don't think that I will be going easy on you because you helped me. I plan on winning." She said with a gleam in her eyes. 'I have to win,' she thought. 'For Kai.'

"Well, I admire your enthusiasm, but unfortunately I have my eyes set on those mysterious cards that the winner will be awarded with. True they most likely will not work with my deck, but I'm not worrying about it too badly."

"Well, I guess we will find out when we get there Fuda," Sprite said. They continued to walk until they reached the arena. Some of the other duelists were throwing their Holo-Disks out into the center of the field already. Sprite took her place and shuffled her deck a bit before inserting it into the top of her Duel Disk. She ripped the disk and it burst out its colorful blast of light. Her Duel Disk unfolded as she watched as Fuda inserted his deck and ripped his disk. They were both ready, "Duel" they cried out as their life points rose to 8000.

"I'll start off," Fuda said as he pulled his cards. "I'll set two cards under the table and end my turn," he said as the two cards appeared on the field.

Sprite stood there looking confused, 'What is he planning?' she asked herself as she looked at the field 'I can't pass up the opportunity to take a large lead on his Life Points,' Sprite thought to herself as she pulled a card from her hand. "I'll summon the Darkfire Soldier #1!" The Pyro type appeared in a burst of fire, his lower torso was completely encased with fire. (1700/1150) "Next I'll activate this Spell Card, Salamandra! This will give my Darkfire Soldier an extra 700 Attack Points bringing it up to a 2400! The Soldiers small sword was replaced with a larger sword.

"You've activated my Trap Card, Reverse Polite Intruding Trio!" Fuda cried out. Suddenly three blobby creatures appeared on Sprite's Side of the Field, one green, one yellow, and the last one black.

"What are these things?" Sprite asked.

"They are the Ojama Tokens, you can't sacrifice and they take up three of your monster spaces. When one is destroyed you will lose 500 Life Points.

"I still have my Darkfire Soldier that you have to deal with," Sprite called out. "Go, attack the player!" The Darkfire's sword burst into flames and a flaming salamander burst out of it and went straight for Fuda.

"Reverse Quick Play Spell Card, Sleepy Sheep!" Fuda called out. Suddenly four sheep tokens appeared on Fuda's side of the field. Red, Yellow, Blue, and Pink sheep appeared on the field. The yellow one got hit by the attack and Fuda was safe. "My Sleepy Sheep saved me from your attack," Fuda said smiling.

Suddenly it dawned on Sprite what his name meant. "Your name means Token, and you use a Token deck."

"Very observant," Fuda said smiling. "So, what else are you going to do?"

"I'll set a card under the table and end my turn," Sprite declared as her card appeared.

"And now it's my turn," Fuda said as he drew his card "I think that you are going to find that my next move is a blast, I activate Tokens Thanksgiving!"

"What does that do?" Sprite asked worriedly.

"This card allows me to destroy all tokens on the field and for each token destroyed I gain 800 life points. That includes the Polite Intruding Trio tokens and because all three of them are being destroyed you lose 1500 Life Points while I gain 4800."

"No way," Sprite sad as suddenly all the Tokens on the field were destroyed. Suddenly Sprites Life Points lowered while Fuda's Life Points were strengthened. Fuda:12800/Sprite:6500

"Whoa," Sprite said as she looked at the current score. "That's a big difference."

"I'll set one card under the table and end my turn." Fuda said.

"It's my turn," Sprite said as she drew her card. "I set one card under the table and then summon my Raging Flame Sprite!" A small sprite with a wand in her hand and a red outfit appeared on the field. (100/100) Prepare to lose more than half the attack points you just gained. Go Darkfire Soldier attack Fuda!" The sword burst in flames again and another flaming salamander flew towards Fuda.

"Reverse Sleepy Sheep!" Fuda cried out as the 4 sheep appeared again. One of the sheep's were destroyed leaving three left.

"I suspected that you might have that waiting, and that's why I summoned my Raging Flame Sprite. It can automatically attack your Life Points directly. Go Raging Flame Sprite, attack the player!" The Sprite's orb started to glow and then a small stream of fire hit Fuda. Fuda:12700/Sprite:6500

"Well, it seems that card is pretty impressive, it can bypass my Sheep. However it won't be doing so for long."

"We'll see about that," Sprite said grinning as the Raging Flame Sprite's power increased. (1100/100) "Each time my Flame Sprite attacks you directly it gains 1000 attack points. "Good luck trying to beat it now," she said as she made the hand motion that signaled she was ending her turn.

"I don't need luck," he said as he drew is card, "I have skill. I activate Pot of Greed, this allows me to draw two new cards." He swiftly drew his cards and looked at them.

"I Reverse my Trap, Curse of Darkness. From now on every time either of us plays a Spell Card we will lose 1000 Life Points.

"I have Life Points to spare," Fuda said. "I summon my White Magician Pikeru." (1200/0)

"I know about this card, my friend Kai uses it," Sprite said.

"Then you should know that it gives me 400 life points for every monster on my side of the field. Go Pikeru, attack the Raging Flame Sprite!" Pikeru raised its staff and let out a small white beam of energy. The energy hit the Flame Sprite and it was destroyed."

"Reverse Trap, Backfire! Every time you destroy one of my Fire Type monsters my Backfire will do 500 Life Points worth of Damage to you," Sprite said happily. Fuda:12200/Sprite:6400

"Very impressive move," Fuda said. "I'll set two cards under the table and end my turn."

'I'm sure they have more to do with Tokens,' Sprite said as she drew her card. "I summon my Fire Princess!" Sprite called out as a girl with silver hair and red robes wrapped around her appeared on the field. (1300/1500) "You over looked one thing, although your Pikeru will give you life points, however you have to wait until your standby phase. While I have a monster with 2400 attack points just waiting to destroy Pikeru. Go Darkfire Soldier, destroy Pikeru."

"Reverse Trap, Gravity Bind!"

"No!" Sprite called out. "That will stop all my level 4 monsters from attacking." An energy net appeared on the field stopping the Darkfire Soldier from moving, it also bound the Fire Princess from moving. "I end my turn," Sprite said disappointed.

"And now mine starts," Fuda said smiling. Suddenly Pikeru's staff began to glow along with the three sheep on Fuda's side of the field. Pikeru engulfed Fuda in a bright light and his life points went up. Fuda:13800/Sprite:6400.

"This is bad," Sprite said. "He keeps gaining life points, and while I haven't really lost too many he keeps re-enforcing his defenses.

"Correct," Fuda said smiling. "I set one monster on guard switch Pikeru on guard and end my turn." Fuda said smiling.

Sprite brought her hand to her deck when suddenly she heard a lot of commotion coming from the other end of the dueling arena. She looked over and thought she saw two large antennas. "I sure hope that whatever that thing is isn't facing Kai." She turned back to Fuda and drew her card. "Awesome, I summon the Ultimate Baseball Kid!" She said as a boy in a baseball uniform appeared with a spike bat. (500/1000)

"I see your monster is a 3 star monster, but what do you hope to achieve with a monster that only has 500 attack points?"

"My monster may only have 500 attack points now, but it gains an extra 1000 attack points for every other fire type on the field other than itself, and I count two. That gives my Ultimate Baseball Kid 2000 attack points. (2500/1000)

"Wow, that card is really good, I must say I'm quite impressed."

"Go Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack White Magician Pikeru!" The Baseball Kid ran up and swung its bat at Pikeru. Pikeru was destroyed and Sprite cheered. "That ends my turn."

"I must say you have an impressive deck, but you will still be unable to defeat me," Fuda said as he drew his card. "I reverse my Magician of Faith and I use it to bring back my Sleepy Sheep in the graveyard. Next I will set them under the table and end my turn."

"My move," Sprite said as she drew her card. "This is why I keep three of these guys. I summon Raging Flame Sprite! Now that I have another Fire Type on the field my Ultimate Baseball Kid gains another 1000 attack points bringing it to a 3500. Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack Magician of Faith!"

"Reverse Trap, Spirit Barrier!" As long as I have a monster on the field I can't lose any life points in battle. The Ultimate Baseball Kid destroyed the Magician of Faith. Suddenly one of the Sleepy Sheep's Spirit's saved Fuda from the rest of the attack.

"Flame Sprite, attack the player!" The new flame sprite attacked Fuda but his life points didn't decrease. "Although your life points don't decrease battle damage still occurred so there for my Flame Sprite still gains an extra 1000 attack points. That ends my turn." (1100/100)

"I feel really bad for you, you have all these ways to deplete my life points and yet you can not do it. I'll set one card under the table and end my turn."

"Wait, so, if I get rid of all your monsters, then you can't activate Spirit Barrier right?" Sprite asked.

"Yes, but remember, you only have two monsters that can get past my Gravity Bind."

"Oh really?" Sprite asked as she set a card. "I place one card under the table and then I summon my Balloon Lizard in attack mode!" A large bloated Lizard that looked like a Balloon appeared. (500/1900) "My Balloon Lizard is small enough to get past your Gravity Bind, so go my Balloon Lizard, attack his Sheep!" The Balloon Lizard floated towards the sheep and destroyed it. "Then I send my Flame Sprite to attack your second sheep! Now I send my Baseball kid to attack your last sheep!" The baseball kid attacked the sheep and it was destroyed. "So much for your sheep, it's your turn."

"I'm not too worried," Fuda said as he drew his card. "I activate the spell Stray Lambs!" Suddenly two sheep appeared on the field, one red and the other grey.

"For activating a Spell Card you have lost 1000 life points," Sprite said as she watched Fuda's Life Points drop. Fuda:12800/Sprite:6400

"Sorry to say it, but you don't have a chance of winning, not when I activate my next Spell Card that is, Messenger of Peace!" Suddenly a man wearing white robes with a book in his hand appeared on the field."

"And there go another 1000 of your life points," Sprite said smiling. Fuda:11800/Sprite:6400.

"Not concerned," Fuda said smiling. "And you'll see why soon enough. I end my turn."

"That means I get to start mine," Sprite said as she drew her card and looked at it. 'This will defiantly help,' Sprite said smiling. Suddenly Sprite's Balloon Lizard got a bit bigger, as if it was inflating. "Oh yeah, during each of my Standby Phases my Balloon Lizard gains 1 counter. When it is finally destroyed, it will do 400 points of damage to your Life Points times the number of counters on it. Next I'll set one monster on guard and send my Ultimate Baseball Kid to destroy one of your sheep!" The Ultimate Baseball Kid ran towards the sheep but he was stopped by the man that had appeared when Fuda activated the Messenger of Peace. "What's going on?" Sprite asked.

"Simple, the Messenger of Peace stops all monsters with an attack power of 1500 or more from attacking as long as I give up 100 life points during each of my Standby Phases."

"No way," Sprite said shocked. "That means I can only attack with my Balloon Lizard! Well, I guess I don't have to worry too much, you only use Tokens, and so I should be safe. You can't really damage my Life Points, and your life points will slowly go down by 100 each turn, and every time you play a spell card you will lose another 1000. So I can still win this."

"We'll see about that," Fuda said smirking.

"I send my Balloon Lizard to attack your token." The lizard bounced over to the sheep and bounced on top of it destroying it. "With that I end my turn," Sprite said.

Fuda drew his card and smiled. "You are in what I like to call my Life Point Token Lock. My life points are protected by my Sprite Barrier and Sheep Tokens while my Messenger of Peace keeps you from doing anything."

"You just lost 100 Life Points my friend," Sprite pointed out. "Guess your Spirit Barrier isn't as all powerful as you thought." Fuda:11700/Sprite:6400

"How many times do I have to tell you that Life Points mean nothing at this moment? I'm about to lose many yet I'm going to gain it all back!"

"And how do you plan to do that?" Sprite asked.

"With the Spell Card Lightning Vortex!" All I have to do is drop one card from my hand and then all of your face up monsters are destroyed!"

"Reverse Trap, DNA Transplant, with this card I can change the Type of all monsters on the field, and I choose to turn them all into the Fire Type!"

"So?" Fuda asked, thinking the whole thing was pointless.

"Well, now that you have activated a Spell, you took, 1000 Life Point Damage, and then now that DNA Transplant is on the field, my Balloon Lizard is turned into a Fire Type."

"I don't see the point in all this," Fuda said.

"Don't you remember my Back Fire Trap? For every Fire Type monster destroyed you lose 500 Life Points."

"But, I'm destroying them by a card effect!" Fuda said.

"Doesn't matter, the Back Fire card says if a Fire Type Monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, it doesn't specify how it's destroyed. Don't forget my Balloon Lizard itself also has one counter, so you will take 400 points of damage from that as well. All together you just took a grand total of 3400 points of Damage! And on top of that I _still _have a monster on the field."

Lightning fell from the sky and all of Sprite's face up monsters were destroyed. All of them blew up in a blast of fire which engulfed Fuda. Fuda's Life Points drastically dropped. Fuda:8300/Sprite:6400

"I think I just brought this game back where it needed to be, in my favor," Sprite said smiling.

"Maybe, but you are about to fall behind again, because I have just made space for my Polite Intruding Trio!" Fuda said as his trap card reversed and the Ojama Tokens appeared on Sprite's side of the field. "I bet you can guess what's next, first I activate Sleepy Sheep!" The Sleepy Sheep Card appeared on the field and the sheep appeared. "Then I activate my Tokens Thanksgiving Spell! Now that I have 5 tokens and your three I will gain 6400 Life Points and because of the Ojama Trio you will lose 1500 again!"

All the tokens were destroyed, Fuda lost his life points for activating two spell cards but then he gained his life points back and Sprite lost 1500 Life Points. She was knocked down to the ground as Fuda stood strong. Fuda:12700/Sprite:4900.

"I am slowly taking away all your chances of wining," Fuda said. "My original intention was to only lose a bit of Life Points by activating Spell Cards, however you set me back a bit. Now I'm pretty much where I started off and that is a pretty good place to start. I may be equal but now you are weaker than you were, and you have but one monster on the field. I hate to say it but it isn't looking good for you."

Sprite was slowly getting up, she knew she was in a hard spot. She had the least amount of life points and only one monster to protect her. 'His Life Points will slowly fall, but not fast enough for me not to run out of cards in my deck,' Sprite thought to her self.

"Sprite stand up!" an all too familiar voice called out to her. Sprite slowly turned her head to make sure he was really there. She saw a red jacket and a grey hat, and the face that could only belong to…

"Kai!" Sprite called out. "What are you doing here?"

"I won my duel," Kai called out to her. "And you can win yours. I know it seems hard, I was in a tough spot too, but I got out of it. I know that you can do the same. I believe in you."

Sprite looked at him and slowly stood up while the edge of a smile crept to her face. "He's right," Sprite said to herself. "I can do it, I can win." She slowly placed her hand on the top card of her deck with her eyes closed, she opened them slightly to see her favorite card. "I summon Raging Flame Sprite!" she called out as her favorite card appeared on the field. "Now Raging Flame Sprite, attack the player!" The Raging Flame Sprite attacked Fuda but he shrugged himself off. "And with that my Raging Flame Sprite goes up to an 1100 and you are left to top decking and losing life points. I end my turn."

Fuda drew his card and sighed. "It would be pointless to play this now seeing as how you can attack me directly, so I end my turn." Fuda:12500/Sprite:4900

Sprite drew her card and looked at it smiling. "I summon Amazon Archer! And with her low attack power she can go right through your Messenger!" An Amazon holding a bow appeared on Sprite's side of the field. (1400/1000)

"How easily you forget my Gravity Bind stopping you from attacking with a 4 star monster," Fuda said snickering. "Once you attack me again with the Sprite it will gain another 1000 life points and then will be too strong to do anything to me."

"How easily you forget my on guard monster," Sprite said as she reversed it and it took position. "Crimson Ninja!" (300/300)

"So?" Fuda asked.

"You keep underestimating my cards and then you are surprised when they set you back. The Crimson Ninja automatically destroys one Trap Card on the field." The Ninja used it's swords to slice through the energy net. "Now that that is gone, all my monsters can attack this turn, so I send Crimson Ninja, Amazon Archer, and Raging Flame Sprite to attack the player!" The Flame Sprite went over and let loose its fire on Fuda, then the Archer shot an arrow at him and the Crimson Ninja quickly jumped over to him and slashed him on the chest. He was thrown backwards and his Life Points fell. Fuda:9700/Sprite:4900

"Way to go Sprite, your taking the lead back!" Kai cheered.

"It was thanks to you," Sprite said as she turned to him and winked. She looked back at Fuda to complete her turn. "Raging Flame Sprite becomes a 2100 and can no longer attack, my other monsters can however and they can't wait to tear you apart. I end my turn."

Fuda slowly stood back up and drew his card while his Messenger of Peace sapped away another 100 life points. Fuda:9600/Sprite:4900. "I'll set one card under the table and then Activate Stray Lambs," Fuda said. His red and grey sheep appeared and the Curse of Darkness zapped him causing him to lose another 1000 life points. "That ends my turn," he said. Fuda:8600/Sprite:4900

Sprite looked at Fuda while she drew her card, "So you took 1000 points of damage to stop the only two monsters I had from attacking. This duel must be really hard for you, knowing that you worked so hard to get control of it. I set a card under the table and then have both my monsters attack your Sheep." The Ninja jumped up and destroyed one of the sheep while the Amazon shot an arrow at the other destroying that one. "I end my turn." Sprite said as she looked at Fuda.

"Draw!" Fuda cried out as he picked up his card. "I set one card under the table and end," Fuda said as the card appeared on the field. Fuda:8500/Sprite:4900

"My move Sprite said, and here's where things get fun. Reverse Raigeki Break, this Trap allows me to destroy one card on your side of the field as long as I discard a card first, so I discard my Hane-Hane to destroy your Messenger of Peace!" A bolt of Lightning came down and destroyed the man and left Fuda open. "Go Raging Flame Sprite, attack the player!" The sprite went towards Fuda and the flames that hit him got even bigger.

"Reverse Sleepy Sheep! Now your attack can't hurt me."

"But my Sprite will still get stronger. Now my other two, attack the two Sleepy Sheep!"

Two of his sheep were destroyed and his life points were lowered. Fuda:7500/Sprite:4900

"You have two sheep left protecting you, and my Flame Sprite is a 3100 now. I end my turn."

Fuda drew his card and let out a heavy sigh. "I pass," he said. "I don't have any more moves I can make."

Sprite swiftly drew her card and smiled. "I summon Darkfire Soldier #1!" she said as the soldier appeared on her side of the field. "First my Crimson Ninja and Amazon Archer will take out your two Sheep!" !" The two monsters destroyed the sheep and Sprite had more fire in her eyes than her Raging Flame Sprite did in its entire body. "Now Flame Sprite, and Dark Fire Soldier attack the player!" The Sprite went forward and attacked Fuda, along with the Soldier. Fuda:2700/Sprite:4900

"You're going to win!" Kai cheered. "I know you can do it.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I still have 2700 Life Points left," Fuda said standing back up.

"Not for long," Sprite said. "I activate Amazon Archer's Special Ability by offering two monsters it can take away 1200 of your Life Points! So now I offer Crimson Ninja and Darkfire Soldier!" The two monsters disappeared and the Amazon picked out a special glowing arrow, she placed it in her bow and fired it at a terrified Fuda. The arrow hit him and he was knocked backwards. Fuda:1500/Sprite:4900

Sprite motioned for Fuda to make his move. He drew his card and placed a monster on guard. "It's your turn," he said.

Sprite drew her card and looked at it and smiled. "I hate to do this to you, but I activate Tribute to the Doomed. It may cost me a card from my hand and 1000 life points but it will destroy whatever monster you have down!"

"No, you just destroyed my Fiber Jar!" Fuda cried out.

"Go Raging Flame Sprite, attack the Player!" The Sprite flew towards Fuda and engulfed him in fire. Fuda:0/Sprite:3900

"Way to go!" Kai shouted. The holograms disappeared and Sprite ran over and hugged Kai.

"I did it, I won the first round," she said. She stayed in his arms for another few seconds until they looked each other in the eyes, Sprite quickly let go blushing madly. "Sorry about that," she laughed nervously.

"It's ok," Kai said trying to shake away his own nervousness.

Sprite ran over to Fuda and helped him up. "Sorry for beating you like that, you have an extremely original deck idea, and it was really good."

"Thank you," Fuda said. "You have a good deck yourself. I wish you the best of luck." The two shook hands and then Fuda began to walk off. "I will hopefully face you again someday," Fuda said as he walked off waving.

Sprite and Kai waved back to him, "It would be an honor," Sprite called back smiling, then in her regular voice she said "Who knows, maybe next time he'll beat me." She turned to Kai, "When there isn't as much at stake." Kai nodded and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You did an excellent job," he said to her. "Thank you."

"Any time," she said smiling. "Come on, I believe we get whatever time is left after duels and then an hour before the next round. Lets go rest, I'm exhausted."

Kai chuckled, "You deserve it," he said as they headed out of the arena.

* * *

Sdrive: Well, hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope it was worth the wait. I'm tired, so quick reviews and then off to bed.

Axel: Nice guess but, WRONG! Sorry. Oh, by the way, the answer to that is, dum dum dum, the crew members BOSS! The hint was when the crew member said that he didn't have anyone who got him the job. That was supposed to get you all to realize that the person who helped Kai was actually that crew member's boss. The Black Magician Girl ROCKS!

Peace Writer: I hope there was a bit more depth in this one. I explained to you how you were wrong, and no it's not jealousy, its just that you couldn't get the hint, -looks around- apparently no one else did either lol.

Reaver: Thanks for the compliment, and yes, insects are pointless lol. Poor Bakura, oh well.

Zenryo: We love Ra, but he hates us, he's a big mechanical bird that doesn't learn to quit, and I'm done with that now. Y ay Rayearth, yay Chinese hobo, yay Isanai! Speaking of whom he had better have gotten me Negima!

Nanashi: Thanks

Mad Bless You: Thanks.

Sdrive: Not much more to say, I know there WAS more to say but I'm too tired to remember. Hope you all liked it. Next Chapter, Its all eyes on Domid.

Power to the Hikari's


	7. Harpie Trouble

Sdrive: Well, here I am, with another episode of the Sky Top Duelists. I'm not exactly sure how good this duel will be but let's hope that it lives up to what I want. Well, lets give a big applause to Domid, for he is the next duelists. –cricket chirps and pin drops- oh well, I tried.

Disclaimer: -Shi holding shot gun- Now, you going to ask us if we own it?

Sdrive: -.- We don't own it.

* * *

Domid and Hajime were walking down the street going towards the South East dueling arena. Domid was playing around with his Duel Disk and Hajime was walking with his eyes scanning over the cards in his deck. "Technology must have gotten much better," Domid joked as he walked on. Hajime shrugged and that left Domid looking at him oddly. "Well, I think it's pretty cool they finally got real working Duel Disks."

"Must have been expensive," Hajime said not looking up from his cards.

"What _are _you doing anyway?" Domid asked him.

"Just making sure everything is exactly as I want it to be," Hajime said as he finally put his cards back into his deck box. He placed the deck box into the coat and decided to look down at the Duel Disk. He detached the disk and looked at the bottom of it. He nodded and re-attached the disk.

"And what was that about?"

"Just looking," Hajime said. "So, let's go over it again, only the best two duelists from each arena are allowed into the Sky Top Dueling Arena, we were fortunate enough to get 2 of us in separate arenas and Nine in by himself. However, we still have to win in order to get to the finals."

"Right," Domid said nodding. "He look, we're almost there." They walked up to the door and looked over the other duelists. "Some of them look pretty confident."

"They may be confident but more than likely they don't have a goal worth reaching. To become the best or to impress someone is most likely what they are here for. We on the other hand have a true reason for being here." Hajime looked around and noticed that they were explaining the rules of the tournament. Once the tournament hosts finished Hajime walked over to one of the computers and made up a new screen name and a password. Domid did the same and they were ready. Domid walked over to the screen and noticed that he was dueling in the very first field.

"Well what do you know?" Domid mused, he looked over at his opponent's face. His opponent was a girl with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He didn't recognize her though. "Guess that's to be expected." The doors opened and the duelists began to be let out into the arena. "Good luck!" Domid called back to Hajime. Hajime nodded and began to through the doors as well.

"I'm field 11," Hajime said. "I'll meet you back outside when the duels are over."

Domid nodded and he walked over to field number 1. He stood there and waited for a few minutes until a girl walked past him and took her place on the other side of the arena. It was the girl whose picture he had seen. "Well, I guess it's time to start this duel," Domid said as he looked over at his opponent. "My names Domid, and what's yours?"

"Katara," She said.

"Well, I'm sure we'll have a good duel."

"Yeah I guess," She said as she ripped the disk and it burst out in a flash of light. She shuffled her deck and inserted it into the Duel Disk. The Duel Disk unfolded and lit up displaying her Life Points.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool," Domid said. He ripped his own disk and then shuffled and inserted his deck. His disk unfolded and lit up displaying his own Life Points. They looked at the judge and he pointed to Domid. Domid nodded and drew his cards. "I'll set a card under the table and then set a monster on guard and end my turn," Domid said. 'Not the best hand but I can make it work.'

"Well, I guess that makes it my turn," Katara said. She drew her hand and looked down at it. "Well, I think it's safe to say that I have this duel in the bag already. I summon Harpie Lady 1!" A bird like woman appeared on the field, her talons were extremely sharp. (1300/1400) "My Harpie Lady 1 gives an extra 300 attack points to all wind type monsters." Katara explained as her Harpie Lady got stronger. (1600/1400) Next I play Elegant Egotist, this allows me to Special Summon any monster with the name Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady Sisters as long as I have a Harpie Lady on the field." Suddenly another of the Harpie Ladies appeared on the field. "And the kind I choose was Harpie Lady 1 which means that this one also boosts the power of all wind types." Harpie Lady 1 (1900/1400).

"Whoa, that's a good move," Domid said surprised. "I've never really faced a Harpie Deck, they never used to be all that much of a threat."

"I've just recently started playing Duel Monsters and the first card I ever pulled was the Harpie Lady Sisters. So I base my deck around the Harpies, oh, and by the way, I've never lost a duel. And it looks like I won't lose this one either," she said a bit bored. "Now I activate my field card, Rising Air Current! This gives all wind type monsters a power boost by 500 Attack Points, but it lowers their Defense by 400. Guess that's a small price to pay," Katara said bored. (2400/1000) "Harpie Lady 1, attack the monster!" The Harpie Lady swept forward and blasted away a machine that looked like a roboticized dragon. "Hey! That thing needs a sacrifice!" Katara said. "Judge Disqualify him! I never won by cheating!"

"He can't disqualify me since this is a completely legal move," Domid said. "This is Fusilier the Duel Mode Beast, I can summon him without sacrificing but his Attack and Defense are cut in half. Usually Fusilier is a 2800 attacker with 2000 defense. But since I summoned him without a sacrifice he became a 1400/1000."

Katara looked at the judge and he nodded. "It says it right on the card, its part of Fusiliers effect," the judge said.

"Whatever, you still don't have anything protecting your Life Points, so go my second Harpie Lady, attack the player!" The Harpie Lady flew towards Domid but suddenly he called out.

"Reverse Trap, Call of the Haunted!" The Trap flipped up and Fusilier came back to the field with his full power. (2800/2000)

"What!" Katara said. "I thought it was supposed to have its power cut in half!"

"Nope," Domid said. "Once it is sent to the graveyard its effect ends and if it's brought back it's brought back with all its attack power."

"Damn, fine, since a new monster appeared on the field a replay occurs and my Harpie Lady can be stopped. So my Harpie Lady doesn't do anything else. I set one card under the table and end my turn."

"Fine, now it's my turn," Domid said as he drew his card. "I activate Graceful Charity, this allows me to draw three cards as long as I discard two." Domid drew his three cards and looked them over, "I discard Sinister Serpent and Card Destruction and then I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards." Domid drew his cards and looked at them. "I set two cards under the table and then I set one monster on guard. "Fusilier, attack the first Harpie Lady 1!" Fusilier shot its missiles and they headed for the Harpie Lady.

"Now it's my turn to play a trap," Katara said. "Reverse Harpie's Phoenix Formation. However many Harpie Ladies I have on the field is the amount of attacks I can stop. So since I have two I can stop two of your attacks. Looks like your Fusilier won't be doing any damage to me this turn."

Domid let out a small growl but then ended his turn. "Good, that means I can continue," Katara said as she drew her card. "This duel is getting a bit boring," She said as she looked down at her card. "I summon Harpies Brother!" She said as a bird like man appeared on the field and stood in-between the Harpie Ladies. (1800/1000) "And due to my Harpie Ladies and my Rising Air Current it gains 1100 attack points, making it stronger than your Fusilier. (2900/600)

"This is bad," Domid said looking at the Harpies Brother.

"It just means that I will win a lot faster," Katara said. "Go, Harpies Brother, attack the Fusilier!" The Harpies Brother flapped its wings and the wind pierced through the machine and it was destroyed. "Then my Harpie Lady 1 will attack your on guard monster!" The Harpie Lady attacked the monster and a woman with a crescent moon staff appeared and was destroyed."

"You attacked my Magician of Faith, that allows me to bring back one Spell Card," Domid said as he looked through his cards and then took out his Pot of Greed.

"It doesn't matter, go my final Harpie attack the player!" The Harpie flew towards Domid and slashed him with its claws. Domid fell backwards as the Harpie went back to his side of the field. "And that ends my turn," Katara said. Domid:6500/8000

Domid stood back up and drew his card, "Now the effect of my Sinister Serpent comes into place, if it's in the graveyard I can bring it back to my hand during my standby phase." Domid took the Sinister Serpent card out of his graveyard and put it back in his hand. "And now I activate Pot of Greed," he said as he drew his two new cards. "Excellent, he said smiling, I remove Fusilier and Magician of Faith from my graveyard out of play in order to Special Summon Chaos Sorcerer!" Domid said as the Purple skinned man dressed in black cloaks appeared on the field. (2300/2000) "That's not all, I summon my Sinister Serpent!" Domid said as the small green snake appeared on the field. (300/200)

"What could you be planning? That thing can easily be defeated," Katara said looking slightly bored in Domid's move.

"Now I use my Chaos Sorcerer's special ability to remove one of your Harpie Ladies from play." The Chaos Sorcerer chanted a spell and one of the Harpie Ladies were encased in an energy ball and then the ball and Harpie Lady disappeared. "Now each of your monsters lose 300 attack points." Harpie Brother: (2600/600) Harpie Lady 1 (2100/1000)

"I still don't get your move. My Harpie Brother is still 300 points stronger than your Chaos Sorcerer and you can't use its effect again."

"Who said I needed its effect again, the secret lies in my Sinister Serpent now," he said looking over at his monster.

"What could that thing possibly do?" Katara asked.

"I'll show you," Domid said taking a card from his hand and putting it in his Spell and Trap zone. The card appeared on the field and then flipped up. "I've activated my Metamorphosis," he said smiling. Suddenly the Sinister Serpent began to change its form, it began growing thousands of eyes and it began to get much bigger and turn purple. "Metamorphosis allows me to summon a fusion monster from my fusion deck as long as the fusion monster's level is the same as the monster I use Metamorphosis on. So now you are about to meet my favorite monster. The Thousand Eyes Restrict!" The Sinister Serpent finished transforming and now the Thousand Eyes Restrict stood on Domid's side of the field. (0/0) "My Thousand Eyes is allowed to suck up one of your monsters, and the monster I choose to suck up is the Harpie Lady 1!" The Thousand Eyes' eyes started glowing green and the Harpie lady was sucked into the monster. Her body started to meld together with the monster and she screamed out her battle cry when she was melding.

"That is just disgusting," Katara said with a green face.

"I think it's awesome," Domid said letting out a fake evil laugh. He then turned green, "That was pretty gross wasn't it?" He shook it off and then looked back at the field. "Either way, since your Harpie Lady is now considered an equip spell card her effect is no longer activated so your brother loses another 300 attack points." Harpie Brother: (2300/600)

"My Harpies Brother is still stronger than that Thousand Eyes!"

"But not as strong as you think, my Thousand Eyes takes on the attack power of the monster it sucks up, too bad it reverts back to a 1300. (1300/1400) My Thousand Eyes will now attack the Harpies Brother!" Thousand Eyes let out a beam of energy and it went towards the Harpies Brother.

"I don't know what your thinking, Harpies Brother, Counter Attack!" The Brother dodged the blast and went towards the Thousand Eyes and attacked it. "Now you've lost your favorite monster," Katara said smiling.

"I'm afraid not," Domid said. The Thousand Eyes was still there but the Harpie Lady was gone. "Thousand Eyes is almost the ultimate Union Monster. He can take up your monsters and make itself stronger and when it's destroyed the monster that is attached to it is destroyed instead. Oh, and the other cool thing about it, is the fact that no other monsters other than itself can attack, the only reason your Harpies Brother was able to attack was due to the fact that it was stronger than the Thousand Eyes. It was only because it was counter attacking."

"You still took 1000 points of damage," Katara said. Domid:5500/Katara:8000

"I'm not too worried about that," Domid said, "Because now I can assimilate your Harpies Brother!"

"What!" Katara gasped as she watched her Harpie Brother get melded with the Thousand Eyes. (1800/1000)

"Hey, it gets less nauseating each time," Domid chuckled sarcastically as the color slowly began to come back to his face. "Anyway, now I have your Harpies Brother, and you have no monsters on the field. To bad I can't attack again this turn, so this will end my turn."

"I can't believe it, this kid has gotten rid of all my defenses!" Katara said shocked. "This kid isn't as bad as I thought. Well, he's not as good as he thinks he is either." She said drawing her card. "I set one monster on guard and end my turn."

"And now it's my turn," Domid said drawing his card. "I return Sinister Serpent from my Graveyard back to my hand." The card slipped out and Domid took it. "Next I summon Freed the Brave Warrior!" Domid said as a man with long blond hair and black clothes appeared on the field. "Since my Thousand Eyes Restrict is the only monster on the field that can attack I'll have it attack your monster!" The Thousand Eyes let out a blast of energy after draining the Harpies Brother of its power. Another Harpie appeared on the field and then blew up.

"That was my Harpie Lady 3, the monster that destroys my Harpie Lady can't attack again for two turns."

"Then I guess neither of us are allowed to attack then," Domid said. "I end my turn."

"It's my turn," Katara said as she drew her card. "I pass," she said.

Domid drew his card and looked at it. "I set a card under the table and end my turn."

Katara drew her card and started getting nervous. "I set a monster on guard and end my turn."

"She doesn't look to good. She only has two cards in her hand and it almost seems as though she's top decking." Domid said drawing his card, "I summon Archfiend Soldier!" Domid said as a monster with a long sword appeared on the field. (1900/1500) "That ends my turn. After this turn I get my ability to attack back," Domid said as he gave his signal that he was done.

Katara looked down at her deck and slowly picked up her card. "A regular Harpie Lady," she said relieved. "I summon Harpie Lady!" the bird woman appeared on the field in attack mode. "And then I play another Elegant Egotist, this allows me to summon another Harpie Lady 3!" (1300/1400)

"I get it," Domid said drawing his card I can only attack with one monster, and so once your other monsters are gone, I'm am stuck with only attacking your Harpie number 3. However, you forgot about your Rising Air Current."

"What about it?"

"It strengthens all your monsters, and that makes all your monsters the same attack power as mine!"

"So, what's your point?"

"Just watch, Thousand Eyes, attack Harpie Lady!" The Thousand Eyes let out its energy and destroyed the Harpie lady. Both the Harpie Lady and the Harpies Brother that the Thousand Eyes had attached to it were destroyed. "Now, Thousand Eyes, assimilate the Harpie Lady 3!"

"NO!" Katara said as she watched her Harpie Lady be absorbed into the Thousand Eyes. "So now you don't have to attack it!"

"That's right," Domid said smiling. "And that ends my turn."

Katara slowly drew her card, "This Harpie might be able to help me," I summon Harpie Lady 2!" The Harpie appeared on the field and it got stronger. (1800/1000) "That ends my turn."

'She's trying to force me to attack so that I'll take the life points,' Domid thought looking at Katara. 'Too bad her plan is about to fail,' he began talking, "I activate Mage Power!"

"No," Katara said meekly.

"This card gives the monster I equip it with an extra 500 attack points for every Spell and Trap card on my side of the field. I have 5 and that's including your Harpie Lady absorbed into my Thousand Eye, and that's the monster that gets Mage Power!"

"No!" Katara said shocked.

"That means that my Thousand Eyes gains an extra 2500 attack points." Domid said as his Thousand Eyes was surging with power. (3800/1400) "Go, attack the Harpie Lady!" the Thousand Eyes blasted out a surge of energy from it's gold eye and the Harpie Lady blew to pieces. Domid:5500/Katara:6000. "And with that I end my turn," Domid said smiling.

Katara stood there shocked. 'I don't think I can win,' she thought looking at the Thousand Eyes. 'I have my Harpies Dragon in my hand and a Harpies Girl on the field face down. Harpies Girl is no threat to a 3800 attacking monster.' She drew her card and looked down. "This is just what I needed, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, and now say good by to your Mage Power!"

"I hate to do this too you, but reverse trap, Magic Jammer! I discard Sinister Serpent from my hand and your Spell card is negated."

Katara hung her head low, "Just go" she said.

Domid drew his card and smiled, "I think it's time I started doing a bit more damage to your life points. Sinister Serpent returns to my hand and then I activate Nobleman of Crossout! With this card I can remove a face down monster on your side of the field, and if the monster has a flip effect, any other monsters of that kind that you have in your deck are removed as well! A man in shiny armor appeared and slashed the face down card. A younger version of a Harpie Lady was destroyed and Domid smiled.

"That was my Harpie Girl," Katara said as she watched the Thousand Eyes prepare for an attack.

"Thousand Eyes, attack the player!" The Thousand Eyes let out it's energy and blasted Katara knocking her down. "That ends my turn," Domid said. Domid:5500/Katara:2700

Katara picked up her card and sighed. "I set one monster on guard and end my turn."

Domid drew his card, "I set a card under the table. Thousand Eyes, attack!" Suddenly a Harpie appeared on the field and was destroyed, but the Thousand Eyes didn't move from its spot. "Let me guess, Harpie Lady 3 right?"

"Yup, my last one," Katara said with fire in her eyes.

"I end my turn," Domid said as he looked down at the card he had placed down just a few moments earlier.

"I set a monster on guard," Katara said after she had looked at her card.

"Reverse Trap, Ceasefire! This trap flips up all monsters on guard and no flip effects are activated, and you will lose 500 life points for each effect monster on the field." Harpie Lady 1 was revealed giving itself a power boost. "That's 3 effect monsters, Thousand Eyes, Harpie 1, and Freed, so you lose 1500 life points." Domid:5500/Katara:1200

"I end my turn," Katara said. 'I can't believe it, this kid has won, I know that there is no denying it. I'm barely holding a defense in here. Once I run out of monsters to play he's got me. How did this happen? I've never lost.'

"My move," Domid said drawing his card. "I end my turn."

"I set one monster on guard," Katara said placing down the monster she drew.

Domid drew is card and smiled. "It's been a good duel but now its time to end it, I summon Sinister Serpent and then in response I activate Torrential Tribute! This trap will destroy all monsters on the field." A giant wave of water washed over all the monsters and they were destroyed. "Now I activate Premature Burial, and I resurrect my Archfiend Soldier. Go Archfiend, attack the player!" The Archfiend ran towards the Archfiend and slashed its sword across Katara. She fell backwards and her life points fell to zero. Domid:4700/Katara:0

Domid's Duel Disk refolded and his disk flew back towards him. He grabbed it and he ran towards Katara. He helped her up, "Hey sorry about this," Domid said as he looked at Katara.

"I can't believe it. I actually lost," Katara said shocked. She looked down at her deck and she looked extremely confused. "I don't get it, I've never lost, I thought no one could beat me, and here I am, losing in the first round. It's kind of a relief to know there's a challenge, but I really thought I would win."

"Sorry to show you up," Domid said holding his hand behind his head, "Look at it this way, now you have a chance to get even better. Maybe we can duel again some day."

Katara slowly nodded and then walked past Domid and out of the field. "I feel really bad for doing that to her," Domid said as he watched her walk away. "Well, as hard as it is to see someone like that taking losing so hard, I'm glad I won. Kai needs me, and I won't give up on him. He walked out of the arena and looked around. He didn't see Katara anywhere. He went to go get a soda and then he decided to check his Duelist Mail.

He walked to the computers and typed in his user name and password. He had two messages, one was from the tournament co-ordinators thanking him for using his system and then there was one from Harpiegirl123. How did she get my Mail address? He looked at the screen that showed duelists and then noticed that his Duelist Mail address was on the screen. "I guess once you register your screen name is posted." He opened the mail and read it.

_Domid,_

_I guess it's a mixed blessing that I lost. I now see that there are others out there that are stronger than me, and now I have a reason to continue dueling, I almost gave up thinking that there was no one out there that was a challenge. Expect for us to duel again some day. I'll be hanging out around here dueling other people to test my skills. I'll see you again,_

_Katara._

He thought for a few moments and then hit reply.

_Katara,_

_Glad I could help you, it was a good duel and I look forward to when we face each other again. Maybe I'll see you again while I'm here. See ya later,_

_Domid._

He hit send and then signed off his name. "Well, I guess I should go wait for Hajime outside," Domid said. He walked outside and looked around, he didn't know what he was looking for, but he knew that it wasn't for Hajime. "I hope she's alright," he said as he leaned back against the wall and waited for Hajime.

Sdrive: There ya go, the end of the chapter. That wasn't too bad of a duel, it could have been a bit better but someone using a Harpies Deck against a deck like Domid's. I actually had to rewrite a part of it to make it longer because Domid was winning way too soon. Well, time for reviews.

John: Well thank you, I don't know who you are but it's always nice to have a loyal fan.

Peace: Thank you, yes I know she had the duel won in three chapters, that was the one thing that disappointed me too. Sorry if this chapter wasn't as good, but I think you can understand why. HA! You thought he had some significance to the plot, well you were wrong! Lol

Reaver: I like crushing peoples spirits –Laughs Peace's annoying laugh- anyway. That duel actually inspired me to make a token deck and see how it would do in real life. Who know's. Well, if you can give me a deck that ISN'T as destructive, I might use it, but if you would please just e-mail it to me. But I think I have most of the decks I need but hey, I'm always up for suggestions.

Mad Bless You: Thanks! I like her too. Kai and Sprite, can't beat those two. Hope you update Duelist Academy soon.

Lgmk: Nope, no real basis, there was a slight basis for a while but it's safe to say that that is no longer part of it. Sprite is all and all my own. Not related to anyone, so thank you for the compliment. I don't really need characters so much as deck designs, and if you are going to send one then please send it to my e-mail, don't put it in a review. Thanks.

Sdrive: What? No Zenryo or Axel? I'm sad -sad- well, thats passed. ATTENTION I am here by starting my own sort of system such as nerd points and stuff like that. I am calling them Couch Potato Credits, or CPC's for short. You can not cash them in anywhere in real life but if you earn enough I will give you a not real type of internet nothing. In other words, you may win a plushy, but it won't be real duh! and here is the first ever question. 10 CPC's to the first person who can correctly guess where I got the name Katara. There will be more chances to win CPC's at other times and in other stories. Good luck everyone! I'm Sdrive Saying, WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO, I mean,

Power to the Hikari's


	8. Beaten Down

Sdrive: Well, here it is, the long awaited chapter of Sky Top Duelists. Hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Hajime walked through the building towards Arena 11. He pulled out his deck and began shuffling as he walked. He got to his arena just as his opponent came into view. His opponent looked like he was either shot up on steroids or jogged around his country 5 times while carrying bulldozers on his back before going to work in the morning. His muscles were large and he wore a black vest over his chest. He had black sweat pants on and a leather jacket with orange sunglasses resting on top of his head.

He smiled at Hajime and walked over to him. "Hi, I'm your opponent, Suji."

Hajime nodded, "Hajime," he said a little wary about this man.

Suji laughed a big hearty laugh. "I believe in good old hard work, good physical health, and rock climbing. I'm a friendly enough guy. My son taught me how to play this game and I just got so into it that I built my own deck and here I am."

Hajime nodded "I came in second place at the card shop I go to."

"Well, congratulations, I think this will be a good duel," he said smiling. "I built a deck that sort of matches my style and I am positive it will allow me to win."

"I guess we will see," Hajime said. They went to their respective sides of the arena and shuffled their decks. Hajime inserted his deck and then ripped the disk while his duel disk unfolded. He looked on as the flash of light erupted and appeared. Once it died down he drew his cards and looked over them.

The judge pointed to Suji to start the duel. "Alright then," Suji said looking at his cards. "Well, I must say, I am quite fond of this hand. I summon Marauding Captain," He said. A man with blonde hair, clad in armor with a large sword and then a smaller sword appeared on the field (1200/400). "This man allows me to summon another monster as long as their level is 4 or lower. So now I summon Goblin Attack Force." A bunch of green goblins appeared on the field with brown clothes and large clubs appeared on the field (2300/0). "Now I have two very strong monsters on the field. I don't think you will be able to get to my Life Points now."

"We'll see," Hajime said as he drew his card. "I summon Luster Dragon," Hajime said as a blue dragon with a hard scales appeared on the field (1900/1600). "Now, my Luster Dragon will attack your Marauding Captain." The Luster Dragon shot hot flames from its mouth towards the Marauding Captain. The captain cried out in pain as he was destroyed. "So much for a strong monster," Hajime said. Suji:7300/Hajime:8000

"But now you have left yourself open for an attack by my goblins," Suji said.

Hajime shrugged and took two cards from his hand. "I set two cards under the table and end my turn," he said.

"Now I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight," Suji said as a large man covered completely in iron armor appeared on the field. (1800/1600) "Next I will equip this card, the Fusion Sword Murasame Blade." A long narrow Katana was placed inside of Gearfried's hand and seemed to meld to him. "Normally no equipments can be placed on Gearfried but the Fusion Sword has the ability to always stay connected to a warrior type monster, and it can't be unequipped by spells, traps or monster effects. On top of that it gives Gearfried an extra 800 attack points. (2600/1600)

"Well, that is quite a strong monster," Hajime said looking at it.

"You bet," Suji said giving a thumbs up. "My deck is all about getting my monsters so strong that they can't be beat, and they in turn give the beating. Now, my Goblins will attack your Luster Dragon!"

"I'm afraid not," Hajime said. "Reverse Trap, Wall of Revealing Light. The number of Life Points I sacrifice to my wall is the number of attack points your monsters have to have more of in order to attack. So the number I choose is 4000." Hajime started to glow as his Life Points decreased. Suji:7300/Hajime:4000 Suddenly a large barrier of light appeared on the field and froze Suji's monsters in place.

Suji gave out a hearty laugh, "Well played, but unfortunately for you I am prepared. I activate Mage Power!" The card appeared on the field and equipped to the Goblin Attack Force. "This card strengthens my goblins for each spell and trap on my side of the field, so it now has 1000 extra attack points. (3300/0) Then I will set one card under the table and make it get another 500 extra attack points. (3800/0) Just one more card and I can get past your Wall of Light. I end my turn."

Hajime looked at the much stronger Goblin Attack force and then at his Luster Dragon. 'If he pulls another card this could hurt,' he thought as he drew his card. "I set one card under the table and one monster on guard, I also switch my Luster Dragon on guard. That's all for me." Hajime's cards appeared on the field while the Luster Dragon reverted to a defensive stance and its card appeared underneath it.

Suji drew his card and smiled. "I activate Malevolent Nuzzler!" Suji said smiling as he placed the card on the field. Suddenly a woman appeared behind the goblins and began to give them massages. "This card gives my Goblin Attack Force an extra 700 attack points plus my Mage Power makes them even stronger. Hajime looked on as the Goblins grew in power. (5000/0) "Now its time for me to reverse one of my other face down cards. Fairy Meteor Crush. This card will give my goblins a trample ability and will bring your Life Points dangerously low."

"Crap!" Hajime said looking at his cards.

"Now go my Goblins, attack Luster Dragon!" The goblins ran towards the dragon and then began beating it up. The dragon was destroyed and then they went on to hit Hajime. He was thrown backwards and landed on his back. Suji:7300/Hajime:600. "My Goblins now switch on guard." The goblins all fell asleep and their card appeared underneath them. "I end my turn."

Hajime slowly stood up, and dusted himself off. He looked down at his deck and slowly drew his card. He looked at it before putting it in his hand and taking another card. "I summon White Magician Pikeru,"Hajime said as he placed the card on the reader. A small girl in white robes with pink hair, green eyes and a small staff appeared on the field. "Now, Pikeru, attack his Goblin Attack Force!" The small magician let out a blast of energy out of her staff and the Goblins were destroyed. "That will end my turn," Hajime said.

Suji let out a small growl. "My goblins were defeated by something so small. I can't believe it. Well, don't worry, you are down to your last 600 Life Points while I still have most of mine." Suji drew his card and looked at it. "I summon Spear Dragon!" A blue and white dragon appeared on the field with a large beak like mouth. (1900/0)

"Your dragon is too weak to get past my Wall of Light," Hajime said confidently.

"It doesn't matter, it is still stronger than your Pikeru, which means that you won't be able to get to my Life Points. That ends my turn."

"I'm not too worried about getting to your Life Points so much as restoring mine."

Suji gave yet another hearty laugh, "My friend, I admire your enthusiasm, but how do you plan on restoring your life points?"

"With my Pikeru's special ability," Hajime said as his Pikeru began to glow. Suddenly Hajime started to glow and his Life Points went up a bit. Suji:7300/Hajime:1400

"How did you do that?"

"My Pikeru's special ability allows me to gain 400 Life Points for every monster on my side of the field. Now, I will summon my second Luster Dragon," Hajime said as his dragon appeared on the field (1900/1600). "Next, I will switch Pikeru on guard and that does it for me."

Suji looked at the field, 'My new friend duels well,' he thought. 'I can't get to his life points and he is about to gain even more life points. I have to put a stop to this.' He reached for the card on top of his deck and drew it. When he looked at it he laughed. "My friend, guess what. I just drew a way to get past your pesky wall. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon! This card will blow away your wall and allow me to attack with my monsters!" The wind from the Mystical Space Typhoon blew all over the wall, when the wind died down everyone was astonished to see that the wall was still there. "What happened! Your wall should be demolished!"

"I reversed my Trap Card, My Fake Trap as a matter of fact. So because of it, it took the wind instead of my wall and kept my wall completely safe."

"I can't believe it!" Suji said astonished. "You stopped my plan from working! I set a monster on guard and end my turn," he said a bit glumly.

"My turn," Hajime said drawing his card. "And now I gain 1200 Life Points," Suji:7300/Hajime:2600. "Now, here's where things get tricky, I set one card under the table, and then I reverse my Masked Dragon!" A red dragon with a white mask and various other armor like bones appeared on the field (1400/1100) "Now, I send my Masked Dragon to attack your Spear Dragon!" The Masked Dragon opened it's mouth and attacked the Spear Dragon. The Spear Dragon folded its wings and let the blast hit it. It then opened its wings and then let out a blast of wind from its mouth and destroyed the Masked Dragon. Suji:7300/Hajime:2100

"I don't know what you were thinking, my Spear Dragon was stronger."

"True, but you have to remember, some monsters have special abilities. And Masked Dragon's special ability allows it to bring another dragon with an attack of 1500 or less from my deck to the field whenever it is destroyed in battle."

"But, a monster with 1500 can't beat my Spear Dragon, or my Gearfried the Iron Knight," Suji said trying to figure out Hajime's move.

"Unless I'm using it so that I can summon something stronger," Hajime said folding his arms. He waited for a second and then started speaking again, "The monster I chose is my Red Eyes Black Chick." Suddenly a small egg appeared and a small black dragon appeared out of it. "Now going into my second Main Phase, I offer up Red Eyes Black Chick so that I can summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!" People in the crowd gasped as the small dragon disappeared and a ferocious large black dragon appeared on the field. Its claws were long and it's teeth were extremely sharp. (2400/2000)

"That card is extremely rare! How did you get it?" Suji asked shocked.

"I got very lucky," Hajime said smiling. "That ends my turn."

Suji looked a little nervous, "No matter, my Gearfried is stronger than your Red Eyes, and besides, all I have to do is switch my Spear Dragon on guard and my Life Points are safe." He drew his card and looked at it. 'I think I'll save this, just in case,' he thought. Now I will switch my Spear Dragon..."

"Not so fast," Hajime said. "Reverse Trap, Shadow Spell." His card flipped up and a bunch of black chains came from it and ensnared the dragon. "This trap keeps you from being able to attack or switch positions with your Spear Dragon. Plus Spear Dragon loses 700 attack points." (1200/0)

"NO!" Suji said as he watched his Spear Dragon struggle to get free but to no avail. "I end my turn."

"Now my turn begins," Hajime said as he drew his card. Pikeru began glowing and gave Hajime Life Points. "Now my Red Eyes, Inferno Fire Blast, destroy his Spear Dragon!" The Black Dragon let out a stream of fire that rammed into the Spear Dragon destroying it. Suji:6100/Hajime:3300 "It looks like this duel is getting closer," Hajime said.

'I can't believe I let my friend get this much of an advantage over me,' Suji thought. 'Well, he won't get any more.' He looked down at the card he just drew and smiled. I activate the Spell, Remove Restraints!"

"What does that do?" Hajime asked.

"Well, this card allows me to offer up my Gearfried the Iron Knight so that his armor can be removed!" The armor from Gearfried exploded and out came a muscular man with long, flowing, black hair. "Meet Gearfried the Sword Master! (3500/2200) Now I will equip Gearfried with my second Fusion Sword Murasame Blade!" The long katana appeared in Gearfried's hands and he started glowing. (4300/2200) "Whenever Gearfried is equipped with a card it will automatically destroy a monster on the field. And now it's your Red Eyes Black Dragon that is going to fall!" Gearfried went towards the Red Eyes and slashed it across its chest destroying it.

"Red Eyes," Hajime said slowly.

"Now that the Fusion Sword is on Gearfried, it can attack, and its target is your Luster Dragon! Gearfried slashed its sword across the dragon destroying it. The shockwave from the attack went towards Hajime causing a large wind and making his trench coat flow in the wind. As the wind died down Hajime's Life Points dropped. Suji:6100/Hajime:900 "You should stop my friend, you don't have what it takes to win. You played a good game, but I will always get past your wall."

"I won't give up," Hajime said narrowing his eyes.

"Suite yourself," Suji said. "Either way, I end my turn."

Hajime slowly drew his card and looked at it. Pikeru began to glow and it gave him 800 more Life Points. Suji:6100/Hajime:1700. "I activate Pot of Greed, to draw two new cards." Hajime swiftly drew his two cards and thought about his moves. "I set a monster on guard and a card under the table and that ends my turn." He said as his cards appeared on the field.

Suji drew his card, "I must commend your fighting spirit, but think about it, you don't have anything to save you."

"As long as I have my wall, you can only attack once."

"Still, soon your monsters will be gone and I will get to your Life Points. I will set one monster on guard, and then I will have Gearfried attack your White Magician Pikeru." Gearfried went towards Pikeru and used its sword to destroy it. That ends my turn,"

Hajime let out a growl, he wasn't sure what he could do, but he knew that he wasn't going to give up. He drew his card and smiled. "I activate Tribute to the Doomed! This card allows me to discard one card in my hand so that I can destroy one monster on the field, and I discard A Feather of the Phoenix in order to destroy your Gearfried!" Suddenly bandages wrapped around Gearfried and slowly dragged him into the ground. "Now you no longer have your Sword Master and can't get to my monsters. That ends my turn."

"Oh, can't I?" Suji asked drawing his card. "I activate my own Pot of Greed!" Suji drew his cards and then smiled. "Now I can summon my monster easier. I activate Cost Down. I discard Marauding Captain in order to make all monsters in my hand lower by two levels. Now I offer up my on guard Enraged Battle Ox so that I can summon Buster Blader!" A Battle Ox appeared and then was offered and a mighty warrior clad in purple armor with a large sword appeared on the field. (2600/2300) "As you might know my Buster Blader gains an extra 500 attack points for each dragon on your side of the field and in your graveyard." Hajime and Suji both watched as the Buster Blader gained an extra 2500 attack points (5100/2300)

"Great, get past one strong monster just to run right into a stronger monster," Hajime said staring up at the Buster Blader.

"Now Buster Blader, attack his monster on the left!" The warrior swung his sword and ended up destroying a Masked Dragon. After that another Masked Dragon took its place and the Buster Blader gained another 1000 attack points. (6100/2300) "That ends my turn," Suji said smiling. As Hajime drew his card Suji spoke again. "Listen, you are a good duelist, but it doesn't look like you are going to be able to beat me."

"I have to beat you," Hajime said simply.

"And why is that? So that you can gain glorious fame? Just to let you know, I'm here to have fun."

"I'm here to win the prize money so that I can help a friend of mine," Hajime said looking down at his card.

"Well, although it is noble, I still don't want to lose. So I won't give up either."

"I wouldn't expect you to." 'And I don't need you to,' he thought looking down at the card he just drew. "I set one monster on guard and switch Masked Dragon on guard and end my turn."

Suji drew his card and looked down at it. "Well, I don't have much for this card at the moment. So I will send Buster Blader to attack your Masked Dragon." The Buster Blader swung its sword and destroyed the Masked Dragon. Hajime searched for a Red Eyes Chick and summoned it to the field. Buster Blader gained another 500 attack power and then Suji ended his turn. (6600/2300)

As Hajime drew his card he thought, 'All I have to do is wait for him to attack the right monster, then I will be able to take him out.' "I switch Red Eyes Chick on guard and set one card under the table and end my turn."

Suji drew his card and saw that he had drawn Creature Swap. 'If I can pull the right card I can win,' he thought. "Buster Blader attacks your little chick and that ends my turn."

Hajime drew and started wondering what would happen if he didn't Suji didn't attack the right card in time. He only had a few Life Points, he couldn't afford to be picky with them. "I end my turn," he finally said.

Suji drew but didn't get the right kind of card he needed. "Buster Blader attacks the card on the far right." Buster Blader went forward and slashed its sword across a woman in strange armor. A swirling cloud appeared on the field and a small light came from the cloud. Hajime had begun to smile. "What is that?"

"This is D.D. Warrior Lady. Do you know what the D.D. stands for?"

"No, but does it really matter."

"Yes, it stands for Different Dimension, and D.D. Warrior Lady's effect states that it can remove itself and another monster if it attacks that monster or if the monster attacks it. So now I use D.D. Warrior Lady's ability to remove itself and Buster Blader from play!"

"NO!" Suji said shocked. The Buster Blader and D.D. Warrior Lady were sucked up into the swirling clouds and they disappeared. Suji stood shocked. When he finally did speak all he said was, "I end my turn."

"Now its my turn," Hajime said. "I summon a personal favorite of one of my friends, Raging Flame Sprite." The small sprite came on the field and stared at Suji (100/200). "Raging Flame Sprite can attack your Life Points directly so go Raging Flame Sprite attack the player!" The sprite went towards Suji and attacked him. Suji:6000/Hajime:1700. "Raging Flame Sprite gains an extra 1000 attack points for doing damage and that ends my turn." (1100/200)

"You have gotten lucky, but it won't last for long,"Suji said. "This card will come in handy. But until then I have to end my turn."

"I draw," Hajime said. "I lay one card under the table and then have Raging Flame Sprite attack you directly." The card appeared and the Sprite shot a stream of fire at Suji causing him to flinch. Suji:4900/Hajime:1700. "That gives the sprite another 1000 attack points and ends my turn." (2100/200)

Suji drew and smiled, "I Play Tribute to the doomed. I discard a card from my hand and then destroy your on guard monster." The card was destroyed and Suji smiled. Now I summon Marauding Captain, and using his ability I summon Big Shield Gardna on guard. Next I will activate Creature Swap, I give you my Marauding Captain and you have only one monster on the field, so now if you would please give me your Raging Flame Sprite I would like to get on with the duel." The duelists walked across the arena and handed each other their cards. People in the audience were watching Hajime thinking he had lost his last line of defense.

"I'm not to worried, because Raging Flame Sprite only has 2100 attack points and it needs more than 4000 in order to be able to attack," Hajime said calmly.

"Maybe, but now I activate United We Stand! This card gives an extra 800 attack points to the monster equipped to it for each monster on my side of the field. So that means that Raging Flame Sprite gains 2400 attack points making it more than strong enough to get past your wall." Everyone in the audience gasped as they watched the Raging Flame Sprite gain power. (4500/200) "It was a good duel but now it has to end, Raging Flame Sprite, attack the player!" The Flame Sprite, now glowing along with the other monsters, began to charge up a its small staff while fire spread around it.

"Not so fast!" Hajime called out. "Reverse Book of Moon. This quick play spell card allows me to switch any monster on the field into face down on guard position, and this time it's your Flame Sprite."

"But Creature Swap..." Suji began.

"Creature Swap has been over ruled!"

Everyone watched as the Flame Sprite disappeared and a card appeared in it's place. "I can't believe it. I end my turn," Suji said disappointed.

Hajime drew his card looked down at it, "I pass."

Suji drew his card and immediately switched Raging Flame Sprite into attack mode. But when it switched its stats were not what he wanted them to be. (100/200) "What happened."

"Since Raging Flame Sprite was put face down, its stats reverted back to what they used to be, which means you can't attack with it."

Suji growled, "That was a move I didn't take into consideration. I have to end my turn."

Hajime drew his card and a smile crept up on his face. "I just drew my second Raging Flame Sprite so now I will summon it." The Flame Sprite appeared on the field with a smile. "Now I will set one card under the table and activate Mage Power. I believe you know what it does. So now my Raging Flame Sprite will get another 2000 attack points. Raging Flame Sprite, attack the player." The sprite attacked Suji and knocked him down to the ground. Suji:2800/Hajime:1700 "The sprite gains 1000 more and I end."

Suji slowly drew his card and sighed. "I pass."

Hajime drew but didn't even look, "Raging Flame Sprite, attack the player!" The sprite attacked and that was the end of the duel. Suji:0/Hajime:1700

Hajime picked up his cards and then walked over to Suji. He helped him up and Suji gave him a hearty pat on the back. "Well, I guess you were destined to win. After all, you're fighting for a friend, so it only makes sense that you would win instead of me, even though I had the upper hand so many times. I must say though, it was a great duel, and I'm glad we faced off."

"It was a good duel," Hajime agreed. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Well, the tournament people said that they needed people to help them test out the duel disks, so I figure I will duel throughout the island to help them out with that."

"Well, I wish you luck," Hajime said shaking Suji's hand.

"And good luck to you throughout the tournament. I will watch you and cheer for you."

"Thank you," Hajime said. After that they went their separate ways. Hajime exited the building and saw Domid waiting for him. "How did your duel go?"

"I won," Domid said. "So, what now?"

Hajime elbowed Domid in his arm. "How many times do I have to tell you not to ask that question?"

"Um...25?"

"I better not have to, or else your arm will no longer function."

"Right," Domid said holding his arm. "So what..." When he saw Hajime glaring at him he immediately shut his mouth.

"Why don't we go check up on Sprite and Kai?"

"Sure," Domid said. With that they headed off towards the North East Dueling Arena.

* * *

Sdrive:Well, I hope you all liked it, I know I did. Time for Reviews! 

Zenryo: Yes, you guessed the right answer when you talked to me in the halls. I got it from Avatar, the last Air Bender, so he gets the CPC's. Um, I hate Thousand Eyes too but now I finally have one bwhahahah...and I'll probably never use it lol.

Peace Writer: Whoopsie, oh well, so the Thousand Eye thing was a minor mistake. Oh, and I also don't care about the Konami ruling for the Haripes. To me, since the effect says they count as regular harpies, but since their names have 1, 2, and 3, they are technically different harpies in my mind. So I say screw that rule, I'll write it my way lol.

Vyser Adept of Dragons: Well, glad to see I have a new reviewer. Thanks for all the compliments, I might just try that type of deck, thanks for the idea. When I have time I'll try to read some of your stories.

Lucien: Go read my rant on Peaces review since I don't feel like typing it twice. Either way thanks for the compliment.

High Elf: Thanks. Damn it, I gotta get around to reading your story! Um, the first duel of the finals is about to start, all the pre duel stuff is out of the way though.

john: Thanks. Yeah, never been a big harpie fan myself but figured with all the new harpie cards I might as well try lol.

Reaver: Oh, I guess you got it right away. So, I'll give you 5 extra CPC's for getting it before Zenryo. Personally, I don't remember the deck Idea you sent me. I'm having a memory fart. Oh well. Um, I guess thats all I have to say.

Sdrive: Well, not sure when the next chapter will be out. I have to work on Masters and then I think I will continue with my first Fiction,Yugioh goes Pokemon, and then I want to work on, To Worship is to Suffer. So I don't know when this will be out. But look forward because next chapter is Nine and he will face off with his BEWD. Until next time.

Power to the Hikari's


	9. The Rain Dragon Reigns

Sdrive: Yay, the long awaited new chapter of Sky Top Duelists! Huzzah!

Audience: YAY!

Sdrive: Ok, I'll admit. I lost the thingy again, and I also knew what kind of deck I _wanted _Nine to have, I just didn't know how to build it so that it was good. Because let's face it, a while ago there weren't enough Dragon Cards to make a good Dragon Deck with. But thanks to a little think called YVD and the Japanese YVD Sets that I put into it, I found some VERY good Dragon Cards. So, If you don't recognize them, it's probably because they haven't come out in America yet. Also, Chaos Field is a card I created for this duel. So all creative credit goes to me. Yay. Anyway, enough of me talking about me. Now it's your turn to talk about me.

Audience: JUST GET ON WITH IT!

Sdrive: Alright alright! Rrr.

Disclaimer: Chaos Field is mine, however the card game I used to create the card is not mine. Neither is anything that Kazuki Takahashi created. If anyone doesn't remember it's Kai and Sprite. Domid, Hajime, and Nine are all based on actual peoples. And now I'm getting glares at the audience for an overly long disclaimer so I'm going to get on with the story now.

Sdrive: One final A/N. HA! And you thought they were over. I'm going to test out Italicizing thoughts in this chapter. I think it will be easier than constantly putting the half quotation that I usually do. I always find it awkward whenever I have to do that plus a regular speech quotation. So, Just wanted you all to know what it meant, though I'm sure you are all very smart people and could have figured it out for yourself…I hope.

* * *

Nine was making his way down to the South West Dueling arena. He was wearing his dragon hoody along with a black shirt underneath that had white Japanese symbols that meant 9. He had on black pants and his duel disk was on his arm. He was giving himself a small pep talk while on his way. He wasn't worried in the slightest, and he was sure to say that over and over again.

_This whole thing is going to be a piece of cake. My dueling skills have never been stronger, plus I have my new Blue Eyes White Dragon in my deck._ He remembered back to when he got his Blue Eyes and smiled. He loved dragons, and duel monster dragons were no exception. He then began to think about Hajime and the Red Eyes. _I feel bad that I can't use the Red Eyes. It's a really good card, but I respect Hajime for his faithfulness to the Red Eyes. Poor Hajime, he's a great duelist, and really knows how to use a dragon, unfortunately he's not the dragon master in the group, though I'm sure he would argue that one till doomsday. He uses good dragons, and can work his way around them, but he also uses other tricks, where as I use all dragons, minus a handy dragon spellcaster._

He continued his walk down the street when something caught his eye. There was a card face down next to a table at an outside restaurant. Curiosity peaking his interest he went over to pick it up and got startled at what he saw. "Burst Stream of Destruction?" he asked out loud as he looked around to see if anyone was close enough to have seemingly dropped the card. Seeing no one was around to claim the card he shrugged and pulled his deck out of his hoody's pocket. He shuffled it inside, "This can help me and my Blue Eyes," he said as he put his deck back into his pocket. _If anyone ever comes up to me with proof that they lost the card, I'll have to return it, but for now I don't see the harm in using it._ He continued walking on towards the arena. _I have to admit though, Hajime and I are a lot a like; we both have a great respect for the dragons with the different colored eyes. And I'll do what I need too to get those other Blue Eyes. But I won't lose sight of my other dragons._ It was at that point that he was nearing the arena. He followed the crowd inside and went to the part of the arena reserved for the duelists.

The proctor went through the opening speech and then Nine went over to the to the screen to see where his dueling field was. His eyes widened ever so slightly when he saw that he would be dueling in field nine. He glanced over at his opponent's screen. His opponent had dark gray hair, borderline black. Dark glasses hid his eyes, but he seemed to be of Chinese decent. He couldn't tell too much about his physical feature. He saw that his name was Aranami Gekiryu. He waited before they were told to head out to their dueling arenas. Nine made his way out and went to field nine.

He didn't have to wait long before Aranami got to the field. Nine noticed that Aranami was taller than nine by a foot. Aranami was wearing a t-shirt, and although Nine didn't see any bulging muscles, he could tell that Aranami was strong. "Wow, I sure wouldn't want to pick a fight with you," Nine said joking.

"You shouldn't Kouryuu Nine, I've gone white water rafting in some of the worse places imaginable without even obtaining a scratch."

Nine was a little unsettled, no one ever really called him by his first name. Teachers always addressed him by his last name and to his friends it was more of a nickname. He usually forgot that people who weren't normally around him would call him that. Hell, even his parents had started calling him Nine. It wasn't that he wasn't proud of his name; in fact he thought it was great that his name meant Rain Dragon. It just wasn't something he was used to. "So, you've white water rafted?" he asked.

"Yes, and through it I've learned the harsh reality of the water, and the creatures that inhabit it."

Nine got a little nervous, _I know where this is going, _he thought to himself. _This guy uses an ocean deck._ Nine let out a sigh, _Ocean decks are rarely ever a threat. The biggest threat is the Wall of Storm card. It can cause a duel to go on forever. _He sighed and pulled out his deck. He began shuffling it and then slipped it into the Duel Disk. He ripped the disk and the top half unfolded as the ripped part burst to life. Aranami did the same.

"Well, how about we make this duel more interesting," Aranami said from the other side. "How about we use the Ante Rule?"

Nine was a tad startled by this, _this kid actually thinks his Ocean Deck is that good?_ _Wait a second, I don't even know for sure that he uses an Ocean Deck. Hmm, he does seem confident, but I didn't win the tournament back home by declining a challenge. _"Fine," he responded. "Just what is your rarest card?"

"Well, I would say that that would ruin the surprises of my deck now wouldn't it? So how about we each tell the judge which card is our rarest, and then he'll know if we're cheating."

Nine nodded, "sounds fair." They both separately went to talk to the judge and the judge seemed startled at the names of the cards. Nine's was obviously his Blue Eyes. The other was still unsure. They headed off to their own sides of the field where Nine drew his opening hand. The Judge declared Nine would begin. Nine drew his sixth card and couldn't hold back the smile on his face. _This hand gave me the same move I used to win the tournament that got us all here. Only this time it's at the beginning of the duel. This duel shouldn't take too long._

"Alright," Nine said, "I'm going to begin by putting Masked Dragon into the field out in attack mode!" he called out as the red dragon with white bones as armor appeared on the field. (1400/1100) "I'll finish my move with one card under the table," he said as he placed the card in the disk. "You're move Aranami."

"That's a pretty weak dragon Kouryuu," Aranami said pulling his sixth card. "So allow me to start with something much stronger than it. Abyss Soldier," he announced as suddenly a shark appeared on the field carrying a trident. (1800/1300) "I'll then set one card under the table," he said as the card appeared face down. "Next I'll put this card face down into the Field Zone," he said as his field slot slid open and he slipped the card into it."

_Face down? _Nine thought. _What could he be planning?_

"Now, Abyss Soldier, attack Masked Dragon," Aranami called out as the shark stuck its trident into Masked Dragon destroying it knocking out some of Nine's Life Points. Nine: 7600/Aranami: 8000

"My Masked Dragon's special ability now activates," Nine called out as suddenly a gray dragon with blue flames on different areas of its body appeared on the field. (1500/900) "Masked Dragon allows me to special summon a dragon from my deck with 1500 or less attack points," Nine said smirking. "And the dragon I've chosen is Divine Dragon-Excelion."

"Divine Dragon?" Aranami scoffed. "Please, monsters of the ocean are far superior. There are more mysteries surrounding the monsters of the deep, and thus due to their mysteries, they are feared and considered strong."

"Oh really?" Nine shot back. "If you remember, Dragons are said to be creatures of pure raw power. No normal human could ever beat them. The only chance a human had was if he were a conjurer. Why do you think the Blue Eyes White Dragon's greatest enemy is the Black Magician? Although the Blue Eyes is stronger, Black Magician can use its magical abilities to counteract the strength of Blue Eyes. Dragons are said to be the strongest creatures that ever roamed the earth, and I believe that."

Aranami shook his head, "think what you will. My monsters will rein superior, you will see."

"Well, if you're so confident then try stopping this," Nine said as his face down card reversed. "Go Generation Change! This Trap Card forces me to destroy one monster on my side of the field. Then I can move a monster with the same name from my deck to my hand."

"What good does that do?" Aranami asked him as he watched Divine Dragon-Excelion be destroyed and Nine search his deck for a new Divine Dragon.

"You'll see," Nine said as he reshuffled and placed the deck back into the Duel Disk.

"Fine," Aranami said stubbornly, "I activate the spell Different Dimension Capsule," he said as a blue coffin appeared on the field. "This card allows me to remove one card from play for two turns, on the second turn I can place it into my hand." He searched his deck and then took a card and placed it into his pocket. A face down card appeared in the coffin. It then closed and the coffin disappeared into ground again. "I end my turn."

"My move," Nine said drawing his card.

"Not so fast," Aranami said. "I'm about to activate my Trap Field."

"Trap Field?" Nine asked.

"Yes, activate Chaos Field!"

"Chaos Field?" Nine asked again. "Wait, so is it called Trap Field or Chaos field?"

"Why don't you look at the card?" Aranami said smugly.

Nine looked at the card and saw that it was a Trap Card. "Wait, so now I'm confused."

"It is a Continuous Trap that is placed in the Field Zone. Here, let me explain how it works. This card allows me to take one Field card from my deck and put it right side up and then reshuffle the deck. As long as the face up field remains in the deck Chaos Field takes on the name, and all the effects of the face up field in the deck. If the field card is ever drawn both Chaos Field and the Field Card are sent to the graveyard and any other copies of the field card in the deck are sent to the graveyard. If Chaos Field is ever destroyed, the same effect applies just like if the field card was drawn."

"So if I destroy it, all Field Cards of the same name in your deck also go to the graveyard?"

"That's right," Aranami said as he pulled A Legendary Ocean from his deck put it face up, and then reshuffled his deck. Suddenly the hologram of Chaos Field changed into that of A Legendary Ocean and all of field 9 was submersed in holographic water as a large palace appeared in the background. People in the audience were amazed at the realism of the holograms. "I'm now also activating Wall of Storm," Aranami smirked as suddenly swirling tornado's appeared on his side of the field protecting him. "Let's not forget that now Abyss Soldier is strengthened due to Chaos Field. (2000/1500) "I end my turn."

"It was already mine," Nine said a little aggravated.

"It might as well have still been mine," Aranami chuckled.

"Well, then let me show you that I'm not scared of your ocean _or _your strengthened fish."

"Technically it is an aqua monster," Aranami corrected.

"Doesn't matter," Nine said. "I activate Cost Down," he said. "I now discard Divine Dragon-Excelion so that all monsters in my hand are reduced by two levels until the end of the turn."

"Again with that Divine Dragon, what are you doing with it?"

"You're about to find out," Nine smirked. "Now that it has gone from a Level 5 to a Level 3, I will finally normal summon Divine Dragon-Excelion!" Nine shouted out as his dragon reappeared onto the field. (1500/900)

"So, mind explaining why this dragon is so divine?"

"I'd love to," Nine said chuckling. "You see, Divine Dragon-Excelion gains an ability for each Divine Dragon-Excelion in my graveyard whenever its normal summoned," Nine explained. "And it just so happens I have two in my graveyard, so it gains two of it's abilities, unfortunately I can't use the same ability twice, however it really doesn't matter, since I have two perfect abilities in mind for this situation."

"And what would they be?" Aranami asked smugly.

"Well, its first ability, also the first ability I'm activating, is to increase its attack by 1000 points." He watched, as his Dragon got stronger. (2500/900) "The second ability is that it can attack twice in the same battle phase if it has already destroyed a monster. However it's the final effect that I'm activating. An effect that states that any monster it destroys, you lose the equivalent of that monsters attack score. And since that is not Battle Damage, your Wall of Storm can't protect you."

Aranami looked a little worried, "That means I'm going to be taking 2000 points of damage this turn."

"Right," Nine said chuckling. "Go Divine Dragon-Excelion, attack Abyss Soldier! Divine Flame!" The Dragon blasted blue shining fire from its mouth that slammed into the Abyss Soldier destroying it. The fire then went right through the tornados and smashed into Aranami pushing him back slightly. Nine:7600/Aranami:6000 "That does it for my turn," Nine said smirking.

Aranami drew his card and looked down at it, "I set one monster on guard and end my turn," he said as his card appeared on the field horizontally.

"Not much you can do is there?" Nine asked drawing. "I summon Lord of Dragons," he announced as the spellcaster with the long purple cape, brown gloves, and helmet appeared on the field. (1200/1100) "I'm sure you already know that Lord of Dragon's protects all my dragons. So I won't bother with that. So for now, Excelion, attack the monster with Divine Flame!" The Blue Fire came from the Divine Dragon and blew away a small tadpole.

"You just destroyed T.A.D.P.O.L.E. (200/200) Its special ability allows me to take another from my deck and place it into my hand."

"Don't forget you lost 200 Life Points," Nine Pointed out.

"I'm not concerned with that," he said as he got his second T.A.D.P.O.L.E. Nine:7600/Aranami:5800

"My turn is over," Nine said.

"Good, I can begin then," he said as he pulled his card from his deck. Suddenly the Different Dimension Capsule appeared on the field and he smirked. "Looks like I get the card I took from my deck back now," he said as he pulled the card from his pocket and added it to his hand. "Now I set one monster on guard and end my turn," he said as the monster appeared on the field again.

Nine drew his card and smiled, "Pot of Greed," he announced playing it drawing two cards. "I activate Flute of Summoning Dragon, and now I can special summon Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Des Volstgalph," he announced as the two dragons appeared on the field roaring loudly. (1500/1000), (2200/1700) The first dragon was a long, thin, pink, spirit dragon. The second dragon was a large redish, blackish, dragon with two horns on its head, and large powerful wings. "Des Volstgalph, attack the face down monster!" he called out. The Dragon let out a blast of red fire that hit another T.A.D.P.O.L.E. "I figured that much. Whenever Des Volstgalph destroys a monster, you take 500 points of damage," Nine said chuckling as Aranami's Life Points fell even farther. Nine: 7600/Aranami:5300 "That ends my turn," Nine said.

Aranami drew his card and smirked. "It was really nice of you to summon all those Dragons for me to knock out at once," he said chuckling.

"I'd like to see you try," Nine dared.

"Very well Kouryuu," Aranami said. "I remove Abyss Soldier from play in order to special summon Aqua Spirit," he said a spirit girl wearing a white dress appeared on the field. (1800/1400) "Now I activate Mystical Space Typhoon," he said. "This card can blow away any card on the field I choose, and I choose to blow away Chaos Field!" he announced as a burst of wind came through the arena destroying the palace in the background causing the water to dissolve away and leave the arena just as it used to be.

_Why would he destroy his best card? _Nine thought confused.

Aranami pulled out his deck and searched for his face up field card and placed it in the graveyard. "Now that that is done, I tribute summon Aqua Spirit to summon Des Frog!" he announced as a large green frog appeared on the field. (1900/0)

"I don't understand what's going on," Nine admitted. "Why would you destroy your Chaos Field card?"

"Because, in order for Des Frog's ability to activate, I needed to tribute summon for it, and Des Frog is a 5 star monster, keeping the Ocean on the field would have turned it into a 4 star monster."

"So what's its effect?" Nine asked.

"For every T.A.D.P.O.L.E. in my graveyard, I can special summon another Des Frog from my deck or hand!" he said as two more Des Frogs appeared on the field. "Now," he said pulling a card from his hand, "I'm going to bring back my Legendary Ocean."

"But how?" Nine asked. "I thought you had to discard all Legendary Ocean's once Chaos Field was destroyed."

"Only ones in my deck, that's why I used my Different Dimension Capsule to protect my second Legendary Ocean by allowing it to be placed into my hand. So rise again Legendary Ocean!" He announced as suddenly the palace appeared behind him again and the field was flooded with water once more. People in the audience were fascinated by the masterful plays of the two duelists. There were actually some in the audience that were holding up signs reading Aranami's name.

"Who are the guys in the audience?" Nine asked.

"My White Water Rafting buddies," he said smirking. "What's wrong, jealous because you don't have a fan club with you?"

"My friends are all participants in this tournament just as I am."

"Sooner or later you will all have to face each other…" Aranami began.

"Don't even bother with that speech," Nine interrupted. "As long as all five of us make it to finals, then it won't really matter, because we'll have the best chance of getting what we want. We are the Sky Top Duelists, and our destination is the Sky Top Dueling Arena!"

"So you've come up with a name for your little friends?" Aranami asked. "Cute, but it won't win a duel. Especially since all of my Frogs are now 2100 point monsters," he smirked. (2100/200)

"The only monsters on my side of the field that you can take out is Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Lord of Dragons, the others are two strong for you to take out."

"You only wish," Aranami said smirking. "I activate Des Croaking!" Suddenly all three frogs began to start croaking all at once. All the dragons roared out in pain as well as the Lord of Dragons, which was covering its ears. Suddenly all of Nine's dragons and the Lord of Dragons were destroyed.

"Impossible!" Nine shouted.

"Afraid not Kouryuu, you see, Des Croaking can only be activated whenever I have three Des Frogs on the field. It then destroys every card you have on the field."

Nine looked worried, _I'm in trouble now_.

"Go Des Frogs, attack the player! Des Croaking!" The three frogs began croaking once more and Nine had to cover his ears as he was forced down onto his knees as he lost almost all of his Life Points. Nine:1500/Aranami:5300 "That ends my turn," he said smirking. "Next turn, I win."

"I think not," Nine said standing up. "I didn't win the tournament to get here out of pure luck," Nine said. "Granted, this next move will require a lot of luck, if I don't pull the right card, then you're right, it will be all over. But I'm a firm believer that you get lucky because you knew how to construct your deck to begin with, so if I get lucky, it will be because of my decisions to put in the card that will save me."

"Well then by all means, let your decisions save you," Aranami mocked.

Nine drew his card and smirked, "You know the old saying, 'be careful what you wish for because you just might get it?'"

"Yeah so?" Aranami asked.

"I activate the spell card Dragons Mirror!" Nine called out as a gold mirror with small dragon wings on the side appeared on the field. "This card allows me to remove cards from either my graveyard or my field that are listed on a Dragon Type fusion monster and then I can special summon that monster to the field. So I remove Lord of Dragons and Divine Dragon Ragnarok…" he began as the two monsters appeared on the field as he said their names. They then swirled into the mirror and out came a monster with an upper torso consisting of the Lord of Dragons with the exception of wings on its body, and the rest of it was the long body of the Divine Dragon Ragnarok except that it was now more brown than pink. "…to summon King Dragun!" (2400/1200)

"I don't believe it!" Aranami said appalled. "That has got to be the luckiest draw ever!"

"I told you, luck only had so much to do with it. Go King Dragun, Dragon Claw Strike!" he called out as King Dragon brought its claw down onto one of the Des Frogs destroying it. Nine:1500/Aranami:5000 "It's your move," he said crossing his arms.

Aranami cautiously drew his card, "Pot of Greed," he announced drawing two cards. "I set one monster on guard and then switch my two Des Frogs on guard as well," he said as his monster appeared on the field and the two frogs switched to a defensive stance as their cards appeared underneath them.. "Then I end my turn."

Nine drew his card, and smiled when he saw it, "prepare yourself Aranami, I'm about to summon your worst nightmare. I use King Dragun's ability," Nine said as King Dragun brought its horn to its mouth and began blowing on it. "Using his summoning ability I summon _Blue Eyes White Dragon!_" he announced as suddenly the vicious white dragon appeared on the field baring its fangs and roaring loudly. Though some would argue that the audience was roaring louder. (3000/2500)

Aranami gasped suddenly, "No way! It's not possible."

"I'm afraid it is," Nine said mocking him. "Now, Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack his Des Frog with White Lightning!" he called out as the dragon charged up it's attack and then let it loose blasting away the frog. "King Dragon, Dragon Claw Strike!" he announced as it brought its claw down on the last frog. "It's your move," he said crossing his arms.

Aranami drew his card and smirked. "Fine, if you want to take this duel to the dragon extreme, I told myself I wouldn't play this card unless necessary, but I can see that it is truly necessary now. I remove one Des Frog from the game to summon Aqua Spirit. I then sacrifice Aqua Spirit and the face down T.A.D.P.O.L.E. in order to summon my own Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he called out as suddenly his own ferocious white dragon appeared on the field. (3000/2500)

"How the hell did you get that!" Nine exclaimed.

"The same way you did, I'm the winner of the Duel Monster Test that was sent out. You are looking at the Blue Eyes from China.

Nine just growled a bit, "I thought you said that the monsters of the deep were the best."

"They are," Aranami replied smirking, "I'm only using this as a tad bit of insurance. Plus it will get people to put up the others that are out there, then I can sell them all to the highest bidder."

"That's sick," Nine growled. "You should treat the Blue Eyes with respect!"

"You mean with as much respect as I treat your King Dragun? Go White Lightning!" Aranami's Blue Eyes let out a surge of lightning destroying the King Dragun causing some of Nine's remaining Life Points to fall. Nine:900/Aranami:5000 It was then that Aranami began laughing really evilly. "I have 5000 Life Points, you only have 900. Both our monsters are matched in attack scores. All it will take is one strong enough monster; I'll suicide the Blue Eyes' then attack for the game. Make your final move."

Nine drew one card and then set it under the table, "I end my turn," he said as his card appeared on the field.

Aranami drew his card and summoned it, "I summon Devil Frog," he said as a frog that was black with red lines around its body appeared on the field. (1200/800) "This monster gains an additional 300 attack points for every T.A.D.P.O.L.E. in the graveyard," he said snickering. "Plus the 200 from my ocean making it more than enough to take you out." (2300/1000) "Blue Eyes, attack Kouryuu's Blue Eyes with White Lightning!"

"Not so fast!" Nine called out. "I have a trap, and it's called Blast Held By A Tribute! This card activates when you attack with a monster that was tribute summoned. It destroys all monsters on your side of the field and causes you to take 1000 points of damage!" The Blue Eyes on Aranami's side of the field exploded also taking out the Devil Frog. Aranami shielded his eyes as the explosion caused the holographic waves to slam into him. Nine:900/Aranami:4000

Aranami looked up at him and simply smirked. "I set one card under the table and end my turn," he said as his card appeared on the field.

Nine drew his card when suddenly the water began to swirl around Aranami forming tornados. "Wall of Storm," he said annoyed. "Well, for now I'll play this, Seal of Sucession," he said. "This can only activate when I have three monsters with the same name in my graveyard, I can then special summon on of them. So I'll bring back Divine Dragon-Excelion," he said as his gray dragon with blue flames appeared on the field once more. (1500/900) "That ends my turn."

Aranami drew his card and summoned it, "Catapult Turtle," he said as his monster appeared on the field. (1200/2200) "Now, offer yourself for your effect!" he called out. The backs of the turtles mechanical feet turned into rockets which caused it to swim right into Nine knocking him backwards as his Life Points fell. Nine:300/Aranami:4000 "Just one more of those and I win. It's your turn."

Nine drew his card and smirked, "too bad you won't get another chance for one of those. I activate Stamping Destruction!" he announced. "This card will destroy one of your spells or traps and do 500 points of damage as long as I have a dragon type monster on the field, and it just so happens I do!" Blue Eyes flew over and stomped on the Legendary Ocean card causing the palace behind Aranami to crumble and the water to dissolve away. Nine:300/Aranami:3500

Aranami drew back in fear, "No!"

"Go Divine Dragon-Excelion, Divine Flame!" he called out as the dragon let out a stream of blue shining fire that hit Aranami pushing him back. Nine:300/Aranami:2000 "Blue Eyes White Dragon, finish this with White Lightning!" Nine called out as the Blue Eyes charged up its blast and let it loose on Aranami who was thrown backwards as his Life Points were depleted. Nine:300/Aranami:0 Divine Dragon-Excelion and Blue Eyes White Dragon roared loudly once more before vanishing as the audience cheered loudly for Nine's victory.

Nine looked over at the judge, "So, what card do I get from him?"

"You have won his Blue Eyes White Dragon," the judge said.

"Just as I hoped," Nine said walking over to Aranami. Aranami stood up and scowled at Nine. He took his Blue Eyes out of his graveyard and tossed it at Nine.

"It was cramping my decks style anyway," he said smugly as he walked off.

Nine pulled his Blue Eyes off of his Duel Disk and then held both of them out in front of him admiring them. He then pulled his deck back together and shuffled it before walking out of the arena, the audience still cheering for him.

He walked out of the stadium, a little surprised at how bright it was. "So, I get whatever time it takes for the rest of the duelists to finish, then an hour, I guess I have enough time to find the others," he decided as he headed off.

* * *

Up in the northern area of the island, Kai and Sprite were sitting at an outdoor restaurant. The tables were small since it was only meant to sit one or two people, but it was fine for the two of them. They had a jumbo chocolate milkshake in the middle of the table and two straws on each side. The milkshake was already halfway gone. They had talked for a while before silently watching people pass by here and there.

"I wonder how much longer it will be until the next round," Sprite finally said breaking their silence and their people watching.

Kai shrugged, "I imagine they have a PA system that they will use once a stadium finishes it's duels to announce when the actual hour of break begins."

"I guess it would make sense," Sprite said. She watched, as he just seemed to stare at the other people who passed by. "Is something wrong?" she finally asked.

He turned to look at her and sighed, "I suppose I'm just worried about the champion of the previous 2004 championships," he admitted. "He's in our arena, and chances are he's only gotten better since last summer. I guess I just kind of wish he were in Nine's or Hajime and Domid's arena. They would have better chances than I would."

"What about me?" Sprite asked. "Don't you think I would be able to beat him?"

"It's nothing against you," Kai said. "I'm just worried because I know that there is always a possibility that I will have to face him, and if he were in a different arena, I'd be much happier because it would mean I wouldn't have to worry about that until the end."

"I can understand you being worried," Sprite said. "But remember, we have more to go for than he does, so we have an advantage. We have a cause for being here."

"I guess that's true," Kai said, even though his voice told Sprite he thought otherwise. It was then that she got up, walked over to him, and gave him a hug. He was a tad startled but when she pulled away and looked right into his eyes he didn't feel anything but comfort.

"Kai, I'm here for you. Even if you do face him and lose, the others and I won't stop fighting for you. We'd go in there and each one of us would beat him, no matter the odds. And we would beat the rest of the finalists too. We aren't going to let you suffer," she said with a slight tear falling from her eye, "not anymore. We should have worked on getting you out of that apartment long before you got kicked out. That was our mistake, but we won't make it again. Kai, you have the best friends in the world, we'll never leave you, and we'll always be there for you. This I promise to you."

Kai looked at her and smiled, it was his turn to hug her. "Thank you Sprite," he said as she put her arms around him as well. "Thank you for everything." After they let go she wiped away her tear and went back to her seat. The began to drink the milkshake again, and after very few moments of silence, they were back to talking about anything and everything.

* * *

"So, now what?" Domid asked Hajime as they were walking down at the southern part of the island. Domid narrowly avoided a swat on the head from Hajime.

"You know better than to mutter those words in front of me," he replied.

"Geeze! What is up with that?" Domid asked getting defensive. "I mean seriously, what are we supposed to do until the next round? There isn't really anything to do other than walk around and get lost. It's not like we can go hang out in the hotels since we are both in different hotels."

"Alright, this time I'll give it to you and admit you're right. But seriously, stop saying that."

"Well sorry, but you think of something to say when you want to figure out what to do next."

"How about, nothing. No one ever asks anything like that question, and everyone gets along fine."

"Kill joy," Domid said dryly.

"Aren't I?" Hajime said giving a wide smile and a thumb up.

"So, I wonder how the others did."

"It was the early elimination rounds," Hajime replied. "Although these guys are some of the best there are, duelists like us who have made it past this round, are only going to be stronger than the opponents before. So in other words, Sprite should have had no problem, Kai probably made it through, and if Nine lost then we all just give up now."

"You're kidding right?" Domid asked.

"No, I'm completely serious," he said with a serious face. Domid looked at him funny before Hajime rolled his eyes, "Yes I'm kidding."

"Kai does have the least experience in all this," Domid admitted. "I mean, sure none of us have ever been to a world championship, but he's had the least practice. He hasn't had any real time to practice his dueling, other than what we did right before the tournament."

"Kai does have something going for him though," Hajime said. He waited for Domid to respond but he didn't so Hajime continued, "He doesn't want to feel like he owes us. So no matter the odds, he's going to keep fighting, so that he can say that in the end he won the prize, and he was the one who paid us back, instead of us just taking what we needed out of the prize and giving it over to him."

"You don't think that will make him un-accepting of the prize money if one of us wins do you?" Domid asked worriedly.

"Even if it did he isn't in a position to say no," Hajime said completely truthfully. "However I don't think he'd turn it down. He understands we all came out here for him, I was simply pointing out that Kai has the motivation to make it to the top. Or at least the finals, and when you think about it, the finals are really the only thing we all have to make. Because it puts the five of us in the winners spot, with only three others who we would have to beat. Once those three are out of the way, it won't matter which of us wins. I think in all honesty, if that's what it came down to, Kai would be happy enough knowing that he made it to the finals of his first real tournament, and knowing that the prize was going to one of us at that point would be enough for him to accept it whoever won."

"Just remember, numbers aren't always everything," Domid said. "Just because it would be three against five, if one of those three are super skilled, they could take us all down. Also, if those three beat three of us, it will be one of us versus three of them, since one of our own will have had to take out the final one."

"True," Hajime said. "But it's better than if only one of us had to go up there to face seven. I'm just saying the best chance we have is if all five of us make it, and I believe Kai will make it due to motivation and cleverness. Let's face it, he's got the best luck out of all of us."

"True, everyone else has skill, he has severe luck," Domid said laughing. The two went on, waiting for the next round to begin.


End file.
